Jai Krishan(D) Tr.Lrs vs State Of Uttarakhand & Ors

3. The factual matrix of the case is as follows:

The acquisition was so made for the purpose of extension of Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie. Thereafter follow up Notification under Section 6 of the L.A.Act was issued on 30th January, 1978 which was also published. The possession of the land was taken over on 3rd July, 1986. The Special Land Acquisition Officer, after hearing the parties passed the award on 27th November, 1984 determining the amount of compensation at Rs.4,89,615.75.

4. Col. Jai Krishan (since deceased) represented by Lrs. (appellant herein) and Mahesh Chandra- respondent no.8, got filed reference under Section 18 of the L.A. Act. The said reference No. L.A.154 of 1985 heard by the Additional District Judge, Dehradun. The aforesaid claimants alleged before the Reference Court that considering the fact that Mussoorie is a famous tourist place, its land is of immense potential value, the market value of the land in question is Rs.25 lakh per acre. As such they claimed compensation for 36 acres of acquired land. They further claimed that the value of the constructed building cannot be assessed less than Rs. 100/- per sq. feet and, therefore, considering the plinth area of 3786 sq. feet of Glenmire building, 2528 sq. ft. of Cosynook building and other construction, the valuation should be Rs.6,31,400/- and after deducting the amount on account of depreciation factor the value of building is Rs. 4,73,550/-. There were 6990 trees on the aforesaid 36 acres of land. The claimants also submitted before the reference court that considering the fact that value of the trees which has been assessed @ Rs.15/- per tree, should have been at least Rs.50/- per tree. In reply, the stand of the State of U.P. was that the claimants have already claimed Rs.7,50,000/- as compensation for the acquired land and as such they are not entitled to claim any amount more than that. It was further pleaded that the land being sloppy and uneven as such it cannot be assessed more than Rs.5,000/- per acre. The respondents based their claim on the basis of the rate shown in exemplar sale deed dated 26th December, 1976.

7. The claimants also claimed 12% additional compensation u/s 23(1A) of the L.A. Act, which the Court below had not granted. The claimants also claimed that they were entitled to receive a sum of Rs. 7,01,875/- towards Fuel value/Timber value of the tree standing on the acquired land as approved by the retired Forest Ranger. They also pleaded that the compensation having been paid after more than one year from the date on which possession was taken, they are entitled for interest @ 15% per annum as provided under proviso to Section 28 of the L.A. Act. Such claim was made by the appellant and another by means of cross-objections. However, the High Court without deliberating on such issues as raised in the cross objections passed the impugned judgment. In the circumstances, the appellant and another preferred Review Petition No. 87 of 2005 before the High Court with a petition for condonation of delay.

8. The impugned judgment was delivered on 16th July, 2005 and a review petition was filed on 15th September, 2005 i.e. after 30 days delay. The appellant and another took specific plea that their lawyer used to come from Allahabad to Nainital who when came to know about the judgment, applied for the certified copy of it on 4th August, 2005 which was delivered on 9th August, 2005. Thereafter sometime was taken to file the review petition. The High Court dismissed the petition for condonation of delay and review petition on the ground of non-prosecution. The restoration petition filed by the appellant was also dismissed.

17. The Reference Court awarded enhanced compensation but such amount was deposited in the Court after the date of expiry of period of one year. In the circumstances, we hold that the appellants are also entitled to interest @ 15% per annum under proviso to Section 28 of the L.A. Act.

19. The High Court instead of dismissing the review petition ought to have condoned the delay, reason of which was sufficiently explained by appellant and ought to have allowed the revision application in favour of the appellant.

20. In view of the findings recorded above, we set aside the part of the impugned judgment dated 16th July, 2005 so far as it relates to payment of compensation for the land, uphold the award passed by the Reference Court to the extent above and direct the respondents to pay 12% enhanced compensation in terms of Section 23(1A) and another 15% interest in terms of proviso to Section 28 of the L.A. Act as ordered above within three months..

21. The appeals are allowed with the aforesaid observations and directions. There shall be no order as to costs.

Hon'ble Mr. Justice Sudhansu Jyoti Mukhopadhaya pronounced the reportable judgment of the Bench comprising His Lordship and Hon'ble Mr. Justice Dipak Misra.

The appeals are allowed in terms of the signed reportable judgment.

[Signed reportable judgment is placed on the file]