Smt.Chabi Singha And Others vs The State Of West Bengal And Others on 22 August, 2017

[Cites 2, Cited by 0]

Calcutta High Court (Appellete Side)

Smt.Chabi Singha And Others vs The State Of West Bengal And Others on 22 August, 2017

Bench: R. K. Bag

                                         1


14.
BPg.
       22.08.                W.P. No.22010 (W) of 2015
       2017
                           Smt.Chabi Singha and others
                                       Versus
                         The State of West Bengal and others.

                       Mr. Himangshu Ghosh,
                       Mr. Hemanta Kr. Das.
                                       ...for the petitioners.

                       Mr. Ansar Mandal,
                       Ms. Sipra Majumdar,
                       Mr. Parijat Some.
                                         ...for the State.

                          The petitioners have filed this writ petition

                praying for direction upon the respondents to pay

compensation to the petitioners for acquiring the land for the purpose of regularisation of Haritala Squatters' Colony in the district of Nadia.

It is contended on behalf of the petitioners that the land of the petitioners was requisitioned by the State-respondents under the provisions of West Bengal Land (Requisition and Acquisition) Act, 1948 by initiating L.A. Case no.26/RR/1987-88 for the purpose of regularisation of Haritala Squatters' Colony. The further contention made on behalf of the petitioners is that the possession of the land was taken over by the State-respondents, but the compensation was not paid by the State-respondents.

It appears from the report submitted by the respondent no.4 that total 7.035 acres of land in Mouza-Habibpur under Police Station - Ranaghat in the district of Nadia was requisitioned initially under the provisions of the West Bengal Land (Requisition and Acquisition) Act, 1948 and the possession of the land was taken over and handed over to the requiring body, but the compensation was not paid to the owners of the land. In view of the fact that no award was made by the State-respondents for the purpose of acquiring the land of the petitioners, the land acquisition proceeding initiated against the petitioners lapsed by operation of law under Section 24(1)(a) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (in short "the New Land Acquisition Act of 2013").

Since the possession of the land has already been taken over by the State-respondents and since no award has been declared for acquiring the land of the petitioners, I direct the respondent no.3, Land Acquisition Collector, Krishnagar, Nadia to initiate fresh proceeding against the petitioners under the provisions of the New Land Acquisition Act of 2013 and to pay 3 compensation to the petitioners under the provisions of the New Land Acquisition Act of 2013 within a period of three months from the date of communication of the order.

With the above direction, the writ application is disposed of.

( R. K. Bag, J. )

Unlock Advanced Research with PRISMAI

Calcutta High Court (Appellete Side)