Case: Achutananda Purohit And Ors Vs. The State Of Orissa

Three civil appeals, stemming from three revision petitions to the High Court of Orissa under the Orissa Estates Abolition Act, 1951 (Orissa Act I of 1952) (for short, the Act) have reached this Court, thanks to special leave granted to the appellant, who is common in all the cases. The High Court, after deciding various issues, remanded the cases to the Compensation Officer under the Act, aftermost of the contentions pressed before it by theAchutananda Purohit, appellant, was the intermediary in respect of vast forests and other lands comprised in the estate of Jujumura in the district of Sambalpur. This estate vested in the State on April 1, 1960 by force of the Act and the crucial question agitated before us, consequentially turns on the quantum of compensation awardable under Chapter V of the Act. The appellant has received around Rs. 3, 00, 000/but much more, according to him, is due and this controversy can be settled by examining his specificPurohit, appellant, is an Advocate by profession and is 83 years old. He has argued in person and with passion. We have listened with patience to all his submissions, good, bad and indifferent. If we may anticipate ourselves, none of the nine submissions has appealed to us, save t o the extent the High Court has upheld. Even so, a minimal narration of the facts and a brief consideration of each argument is necessary and we proceed to do so. While his arguments did not impress us, we were touched by his concluding words that he had been born and had grown in an adivasi village, in the only brahmin family and, in his evening years of life, proposed to give a substantial part of the compensation the State would give him for adivasi welfare. Although he waxed sentimentally on this note, he did not convince us on his contentions. With these prefatory observations, we proceed to formulate the many points urged and give our findings and reasons, one after the other. We are directly concerned with the issue of compensation which is dealt with, as earlier stated, in Chapter V of the Act. The Compensation Officer is charged with fixing the quantum in the prescribed manner. A compensation assessment roll containing the gross asset an d net income of each estate, together with the compensation payable in respect of such estate, has to be prepared by him. Of course, when there is joint ownership, s. 24 stipulates that the compensation shall be determined for the estate as a whole and not separately for each of the shares therein. Section 26 has great relevance as it lays down the method of arriving at the gross asset and s. 27 has like significance as it focuses on the manner in which the net income from an estate shall be computed by deducting certain items from the gross asset of the estate. Section 28 states how the amount of compensation is to be determined and the methodology of payment. There are a few other sections in Chapter VI which deal with payment of compensation. The Act also provides for appeal, second appeal and revision, the last being to the High Court and the earlier ones being to the Collector and a Board constituted under s. 22. Thepower is vested in the government under s. 47 and there is a routine removal of difficulties clause contained in s. 50. These furnish in bare outline the provisions with which we are directly concerned.

Reasoning:
If the officer had no jurisdiction, the land would be gone because of the vesting provision and no compensation would be forthcoming for want ofconsequence the appellant never wants. Technicality can be frightened away by technicality. Nor is it right to contend, as the appellant did, that the Compensation Officers jurisdiction was created by the order of remand by the High Court. No, it was created by the statute and canalised by the order of remand.It follows that, after the present second remand, theof the annual net income cannot be done solely by the Forest Officer without securing the approval of the Chief Conservator. Nor can the Compensation Officerthe Chief Conservator on the misunderstood strength of the High Courts first order of remand. The true legal drill is and this holds good after the second remandthe Forest officer will do the appraisement of the annual income, forward his report to the Chief Conservator of Forests who will take the said report into consideration and, if necessary, make modifications therein or approve it with such changes as he deems fit. Certainly the Chief Conservator cannot be ignored by the Compensation Officer nor can the Chief Conservator ignore the assessment made by the Forest Officer and go through an independent exercise. The integrated process has already been explained by us and will be followed in the proceedings to ensue on remand. We may make it clear that now that a Forest officer has made an appraisement, the Chief Conservator of Forests will apply his mind to it and approve it as a whole or with such modifications as he thinks necessary and forward it to the Compensation Officer. This will, among other things, save time. Thereafter, the appropriate statutory course will follow. Substantially, this is what has been done by the learned Judge when allowing the revisions and remitting the case back to the Compensation Officer.