IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM PRESENT : THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE KURIAN JOSEPH & THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE HARUN-UL-RASHID WEDNESDAY, THE 20TH AUGUST 2008 / 29TH SRAVANA 1930 LA.App.No. 1171 of 2007 ---------------------------- LAR.131/1998 of II ADDL.SUB COURT,TRIVANDRUM .................... APPELLANT/RESPONDENT: ---------------------- STATE OF KERALA, REPRESENTED BY THE DISTRICT COLLECTOR, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM. BY GOVERNMENT PLEADER SRI. NOBLE MATHEW RESPONDENTS/CLAIMANTS & ADDL. RESPONDENT NO.2. ----------------------------------------------- 1. HUBERT JOHN MIRANDA, GIJA COTTAGE, THEKKEVILA, PALLIPPURAM, KAZHAKUTTOM. 2. F.MOHAMMED RAFI, THOPPIL VEEDU, ALINERA MURI, AYROOPARA VILLAGE, KAZHAKUTTOM. 3. ELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY PARK, KERALA, KARIAVATTOM P.O., THIRUVANANTHAPURAM. BY SRI. P.A. AHAMMED, SC, TECHNO PARK. THIS LAND ACQUISITION APPEAL HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON 20/08/2008, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING: KURIAN JOSEPH & HARUN-UL-RASHID, JJ. ----------------------------------------- L.A.A. No.1171 OF 2007 & C.M.Appln.No.1155 OF 2007 ----------------------------------------- Dated this the 20th day of August, 2008. J U D G M E N T Harun-Ul-Rashid, J. C.M.Appln.No.1155/2007: This is an application to condone the delay of 536 days in filing the appeal. The appeal is filed by the State against the judgment and decree dated 14.10.2004 in L.A.R.No.131/1998 on the file of the II Additional Sub Court, Thiruvananthapuram. 2. The extent of property under acquisition is 19.9 ares of land in Survey No.412/3 of Kazhakkutom-Menamkulam village. The property was acquired for Eletronics Techno Park. Notification under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act is dated 05.04.1994. Land Acquisition Officer fixed the land value at the rate of Rs.14,874/- per are. 3. Before the reference court, the claimants produced Exhibits A1 to A3 and examined AW1 to AW3. RW1 was examined on the side of the respondent and Exhibits R1 to R5 L.A.A. No.1171/07 2 were also marked. Exhibits C1 and C2 are marked as Court Exhibits. 4. The reference court evaluated the oral and documentary evidence. The claimants produced a copy of the judgment in L.A.R.No.274/1998 as Exhibit A3. Since the property covered under the said acquisition is included in the 1st category and land value was fixed at the rate of Rs.46,510/- per are, the reference court rightly held that the judgment in L.A.R.No.274/1998 cannot be relied on for determining the market value of the acquired land. At the same time, the court examined the comparable nature of the acquired land with Exhibit A2 property. The reference court after evaluating the oral evidence of AW1 and AW2, who is the vendor of Exhibit A2 property, concluded that these two properties are lying nearby. The court held that there is only a short distance between the properties so that suitable deductions can be made for fixing the value of the acquired property. The court also found that Exhibit A2 property is in Kazhakuttom junction and so on that count a 25% deduction from the value of Exhibit A2 property is reasonable. Then the court examined the lie of the property and find that the acquired L.A.A. No.1171/07 3 property lies at a depth of 5 metres from the National Highway. Therefore, the court found that a 15% deduction is reasonable and it also deducted another 20% for the reason that the acquired property is wet converted dry land. Thus, a total 60% deduction was made from the value given in Exhibit A2. The value of Exhibit A2 property is Rs.25,000/- per cent. By giving 60% deduction, the land value for the acquired land was fixed at Rs.10,000/- per cent equivalent to Rs.24,710/- per Are. The deduction of the total percentage of 60% from the value of Exhibit A2 property, for the above reasons, is most reasonable, just and proper. We find no reason to interfere with the fixation of market value by the reference court. Therefore, the application for condonation of delay and the appeal are dismissed. I.A.No.2962/2007: Dismissed. KURIAN JOSEPH, JUDGE HARUN-UL-RASHID, JUDGE smp L.A.A. No.1171/07 4 KURIAN JOSEPH & HARUN-UL-RASHID, JJ. L.A.A. No. 1171 OF 2007 J U D G M E N T 20.08.2008