IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM PRESENT : THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE PIUS C.KURIAKOSE & THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE K.HARILAL FRIDAY, THE 25TH NOVEMBER 2011 / 4TH AGRAHAYANA 1933 LA.App..No. 1390 of 2007() ------------------------------------ LAR.137/2002 of SUB COURT, CHERTHALA .................... APPELLANT/CLAIMANT : ------------------------------------- GOPINATHAN NAIR, S/O. DAMODARA KURUP, KANNETHARA MALIKA, THEVARVATTOM, THYCATTUSSERY, CHERTHALA. BY ADV. SRI.V.G.ARUN SRI.T.R.HARIKUMAR RESPONDENTS : ----------------------- 1. STATE OF KERALA, REPRESENTED BY THE SPECIAL TAHSILDAR (L.A.) GENERAL, ALLEPPEY. 2. THE PROJECT OFFICER NO.III, OECF PROJECT, KERALA WATER AUTHORITY, VELLAYAMBALAM, TRIVANDRUM. BY SENIOR GOVERNMENT PLEADER, C.R.SHYAM KUMAR FOR R1 ADV. SMT.AMBIKA DEVI, SC, KWA FOR R2 THIS LAND ACQUISITION APPEAL HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON 25/ 11 / 2011, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING: ln PIUS C.KURIAKOSE & K.HARILAL,JJ ------------------------------------------------- L.A.A No. 1390 of 2007 -------------------------------------------------- Dated this the 25rd day of November, 2011 J U D G M E N T Pius C. Kuriakose, J The claimant is in appeal. His lands both dry lands and wet lands in Thykattussery Village was acquired for the purpose of Kerala Water Authority pursuant to Section 4(1) notification published on 10.12.1998. For the wet lands the Land Acquisition Officer awarded land value at the rate of Rs.2784/- per Are. For the dry lands he awarded land value at the rate of Rs.10,733/- per Are. He had a claim that substantial quantity of silica sand was available on the land under acquisition. He had claimed compensation for the above heap of silica sand. The Land Acquisition Officer awarded nothing towards compensation for the silica sand. Before the reference court he took out a commission. The Commissioner reported that the total quantity of the silica sand is 9904 Cubic meter. The learned Subordinate Judge did not accept the commissioner's report for the reason that the measurement conducted by the inexperienced commissioner was not scientific or correct. The learned L.A.A No. 1390 of 2007 2 Subordinate Judge however did not award any amount at all towards the compensation for the silica sand in spite of the finding that certain quantity of the silica sand was available on the land under acquisition. In this appeal the appellant claims the enhanced land value for dry lands Rs.3,000/- per cent and the enhanced land value for wet lands Rs.6,000/- per cent. The appellant also claims a total compensation of Rs.15 lakhs as compensation for the silica sand. 2. We have heard the submissions of Mr.T.R.Harikumar, the learned counsel for the appellant, Smt.S.Ambika Devi the standing counsel of Kerala Water Authority and Mr.C.R.Shyamkumar, the learned Senior Government Pleader. Smt. Ambika Devi supported the submissions of Mr.C.R.Shyamkumar, the learned Government Pleader 3. We have gone through the judgment of the reference court and applied our mind to various items of evidence to which our attention was drawn by the learned counsel. It was relying on Annexure 1 and 2 judgments that the reference court re-fixed the land value of wet lands at Rs.9,000/- per Are and value of dry lands at Rs.19,990/- per Are. The learned sub Judge has observed in his judgment that Annexure 1 and A2 have not L.A.A No. 1390 of 2007 3 attained finality. We are convinced that Annexure 1 and 2 have attained finality and the appeals preferred against Annexure 1 and 2 was dismissed. 4. According to us the reference court should have maintained the ratio maintained by the Land Acquisition Officer regarding the values of wet lands and dry lands. So maintained while we are able to retain the value of wet lands at Rs.9,000/- per Are. We are inclined to re-fix the value of dry lands in question at Rs.25,000/- per Are. We sustain the value fixed by the reference court for wet lands at Rs.9,000/- per Are. 5. We shall now deal the appellant's claim for the compensation for silica sand heaps. The Commissioner reported that the total quantity of sand available on the property is 9904 cubic meter. She also reported that the value of 1 cubic meter of silica sand is Rs.30/-. The rate suggested by the Commissioner does not appear to be seriously in dispute. The dispute is regarding the quantity. The learned Sub judge certainly right in her view that the calculation of the quantity by the Commissioner was not correct. But we feel that even then the learned subordinate judge could have made a reasonable guess as to the available quantity of silica sand before awarding compensation. L.A.A No. 1390 of 2007 4 Having made an overall assessment of the evidence we feel that the quantity of silica sand available on the property under acquisition should have been at least 3300 Sq. ft. ie 1/3rd of what is reported by the Commissioner. For so much of quantity the appellant is entitled for compensation of Rs.99,000/- which we round of to Rs.1,00,000/-. The appeal is allowed. The market value of dry lands under acquisition is re-fixed at Rs.25,000/- per Are. The total compensation of Rs.1,00,000/- is awarded to the appellant towards the value of silica sand which was available on the property. In all other respects the award is confirmed and the appellant is entitled for all the statutory benefits and the enhanced compensation awarded under this judgment. The appellant is entitled for the proportionate cost in the appeal also. PIUS C. KURIAKOSE JUDGE K.HARILAL JUDGE ab L.A.A No. 1390 of 2007 5