Supreme Court - Daily Orders
Bouramma Dead By Lr. Etc. vs Executive Engineer, Knnl . on 25 February, 2016
Bench: Ranjan Gogoi, Prafulla C. Pant
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ITEM NO.106 COURT NO.7 SECTION IVA
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
CIVIL APPEAL NOS. 1091-1094/2013
BOURAMMA DEAD BY LRS. ETC. APPELLANT(S)
VERSUS
EXECUTIVE ENGINEER, KNNL & ORS. RESPONDENT(S)
(WITH OFFICE REPORT)
Date : 25/02/2016 These appeals were called on for hearing today.
CORAM :
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RANJAN GOGOI
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PRAFULLA C. PANT
For Appellant(s) Mr. Prashant Kumar, Adv.
Mr./Ms. Triveni P., Adv.
Mr. Amit Singh, Adv.
Mr. Rajan Singh, Adv.
Ms. Anindita Pujari, Adv.
For Respondent(s) Ms. Hetu Arora Sethi, Adv.
Mr./Ms. Darpan K.M., Adv.
Mr. Naveen R. Nath, Adv.
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
O R D E R
The appeals are dismissed with no order as to costs in terms of the signed order.
[VINOD LAKHINA] [ASHA SONI]
COURT MASTER COURT MASTER
[SIGNED ORDER IS PLACED ON THE FILE] Signature Not Verified Digitally signed by VINOD LAKHINA Date: 2016.02.26 16:27:59 IST Reason: 1 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CIVIL APPEAL NOS. 1091-1094/2013 BOURAMMA DEAD BY LRS. ETC. ...APPELLANTS VERSUS EXECUTIVE ENGINEER, KNNL & ORS. ...RESPONDENTS ORDER
1. For the acquisition of land in question the Land Acquisition Collector awarded compensation at the rate of Rs.26,000/- per acre. This was enhanced to Rs.8,82,090/- per acre by the Reference Court. In appeal by both the sides the High Court reduced the compensation to Rs.1,25,000/- per acre by partly allowing the appeal filed by the present respondent. It is the aforesaid order which has been subjected to challenge in the present appeals.
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2. In enhancing the amount of compensation to Rs.8,82,090/- per acre the Reference Court relied upon certain sale deeds which were taken note of by the Land Acquisition Collector in making his award at the rate of Rs.26,000/- per acre. The Reference Court particularly took note of Exhibits P-9, P-10, P-12, P-16 and P-59. The High Court, in appeal, took the view that out of the 83 sale deeds taken note of by the Land Acquisition Collector there was no particular reason for the Reference Court to pick up the sale deeds in question. In any event, as found by the High Court, the aforesaid sale deeds were for small parcels of land whereas the instant acquisition was for over 21 acres. The High Court, therefore, found that the award of compensation of Rs.8,82,090/- per acre was unjustified.
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3. The next question that the High Court had to deal with is the adequate and appropriate compensation that would be awardable for the acquisition. In this regard, it appears that the High Court took note of the fact that for a similar acquisition made in the year 1997 compensation was awarded by the Reference Court at the rate of Rs.53,500/- per acre. The High Court, in the facts of the case, thought it proper to give the benefit of 8 to 10% enhancement keeping in mind that the instant acquisition was of the year 2004. Thereafter, the High Court took into account the fact that the acquired land was close to the National Highway and also very near to Afzalpur town. The learned judge of the High Court also took note of the fact that the land was suitable both for agricultural and industrial purpose. 4 Taking into account all the aforesaid facts, a conclusion was reached that compensation at the rate of Rs.1,25,000/- per acre would be justified and adequate.
4. Though it may be correct that the essential basis of the High Court's order i.e. compensation for similarly acquired land at the rate of Rs.53,500/- per acre is not on the strength of any exhibited document, we are not inclined to hold that the same, by itself, would invalidate the order of the High Court. Out of the sale deeds (83 in number) considered by the Land Acquisition Collector, except three instances referred to by the Reference Court as well as by the High Court, which are in respect of smaller areas of land, our attention has not been drawn to any other sale deed where the value of the land exchanged is over Rs.1,25,000/- per acre. 5 The assessment of compensation, as repeatedly held by this Court, involves a process of proximation and some amount of guess-work is bound to go into the said process. In the facts noted above, we will have no occasion to interfere with the award of compensation of Rs.1,25,000/- per acre made by the High Court.
5. Consequently and in the light of the foregoing discussions, the present appeals have to fail. They are accordingly dismissed with no order as to costs.
....................,J.
(RANJAN GOGOI) ...................,J.
(PRAFULLA C. PANT) NEW DELHI FEBRUARY 25, 2016