IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA LPA No.113 of 2008 1. Hari Prakash Tiwary 2. Sri Prakash Tiwary Both S/o of Late Kashi Pd. Tiwary, resident of Village- Parbatta, P.O. & P.S.-Parbatta, District-Khagaria. …………… Petitioners/Appellants Versus 1. State of Bihar 2. The Commissioner, Munger Division, Munger 3. The Collector, Khagaria 4. The District Land Acquisition Officer, Khagaria 5. The Additional Collector, Khagaria 6. The Sub-Divisional Officer, Gogari (Jamalpur), Khagaria 7. The C.O. Parbatta, Khagaria 8. Shri Shiv Shankar Bhagat, S/o Late Ram Saran Bhagat 9. Shri Krishna Chandra Bhagat, son of Shri Shiv Shankar Bhagat 10. Prem Chand Bhagat, Son of Shri Shiv Shankar Bhagat 11. Gyan Chandra Bhagat, son of Shri Shiv Shankar Bhagat. 12. Uday Chandra Bhagat, S/o Shri Shiv Shankar Bhagat 13. Sushil Chandra Bhagat, S/o Shri Shiv Shankar Bhagat 14. Sheikh Shamim, S/o Late Sheikh Nisar 15. Sheikh Jamil, S/o Late Sheikh Nisar 16. Sheikh Aziz, S/o of Late Sheikh Nisar 17. Sheikh Irfan, S/o Late Sheikh Insan 18. Sheikh Ibraan, S/o Sheikh Irfaan (minor) 19. Sheikh Numann, S/o of Sheikh Irfaan (minor) 20. Sheikh Rahmann, S/o Sheikh Irfaan (minor) 21. Sheikh Issa, S/o Late Abul 22. Sheikh Aslum, S/o Late Abul 23. Sheikh Musa, S/o Late Abul 24. Md. Lal Alam, Azaad, S/o Sheikh Issa (minor) 25. Ramanand Das, S/o Late Chhedi Das. 26. Chandrashekhar Das, S/o late Raghunath Das. 27. Shri Nandan Prasad Gupta, S/o Late Jagdish Sah. 28. Ramanand Prasad Gupta, Son of Late Jagdish Sah. 29. Deonandan Prasad Gupta, Son of Late Sant Lal Sah. 30. Nityanand Gupta, S/o Deonandan Gupta (minor) 31. Arjaun Das, S/o Late Durukha Das. 32. Vishundeo Das, S/o Late Durukha Das. 33. Laxmi Das, S/o Late Durukha Das 34. Ashok Chaurasia (Sushil), S/o Arjun Das (minor) 35.Ajay Chourasia son of Arjun Das (Minor) 36. Siyaram Bhagat son of Late Suryanarayan Bhagat. 37. Laxmi Bhagat son of late Suryanarayan Bhagat. 38. Kuldeep Rai son of late Ashan Rai. 39. Nareshf Kumar Bhagat son of Not known. 40. Shyam Kishore Bhagat son of late Lakhi Bhagat. 41. Arun Prasad Bhagat son of late Lakhi Bhagat. 42. Shri Ayub Khan son of late Jalil. 43. Sheikh Salla sonof late Sk. Haazi. 44. Sheikh Namim son of late Hanif Khan 2 45. Shri Sheikh Kubus son of late Kali. 46. Shailendra Kumar Saran son of Nawal Kishore Das. All residents of Gram Panchayat Rupobly Tamtha, P.S.- Parbatta, District-Khagaria. ………… Respondents/Respondents. ----------- For the appellants : Mr. Shashi Shekhar Dvivedi, Sr. Advaocate Mr. Ravi Shankar Dvivedi, Advocate Mr. Sangeeta Sharma. For the State : Mr. Lalit Kishore, AAG III, Mr. Piyush Lall, Assistant Counsel to AAG III. ---------- 10/ 10.09.2009 Heard the parties. The earlier order of this Court passed on 4th September, 2008 discloses the relevant facts as well as the grievance of the petitioners and the action, this Court directed to be taken by the concerned authority i.e. District Land Acquisition Officer, Khagaria. Since the land was compulsorily acquired in the year 1984 possession was also taken some time in the year 1985 but no compensation was paid to the appellants due to non-preparation of the award, this Court directed respondent no. 4 to complete the proceedings of compulsory land acquisition and prepare the award within one month from that order. We have been informed that the award was prepared on 19.9.2008. A copy of the same has been annexed as Annexure-A to the counter affidavit filed on behalf of the respondents. On behalf of appellants I.A. No. 6459 of 2008 has been filed wherein objection has been taken to the award on 3 the ground that it is in disregard of Bihar Governments’ policy decision relating to Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation. A copy of that policy decision by way of resolution of the State Government dated 13.05.2008 has been annexed as Annexure-2 to the I.A. Appellants claim that in view of Clause-5 of that resolution the principles of determination of compensation as contained in that resolution should have been applied for preparing the award in respect of appellants as well which has been admittedly prepared after the publication of the resolution in the year 2008. Since the authorities under the Land Acquisition Act were ignoring their statutory duty of preparing the award and the appellants wanted the Land Acquisition proceedings to be completed at the earliest so that they may receive lawful compensation without delay, this Court passed the order dated 4th September, 2008 which has already been noticed above. Now, the issue being raised through the I.A. is legality, correctness and proprietary of the award prepared by the statutory authority under the Land Acquisition Act. We are of the considered view that now in the changed situation it would not be proper for this Court to consider the correctness and legality of the award in the present Letters Patent Appeal. Hence we dispose of the appeal with liberty to the appellants that, if so advised, they 4 may take recourse to provisions under Section 13A and Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act for seeking appropriate relief, first from the Collector under the Act or through the process of reference to Court as provided by Section 18. Since the matter was pending before this Court, we direct that in case the appellants approach the Collector for seeking relief within a period of six weeks’ from today in that event the Collector shall consider the application of the appellants on merits and take action in accordance with law. The appeal is disposed of. S.Sb/- (Shiva Kirti Singh, J.) (Jyoti Saran, J.)