Himmat Singh And Ors vs State Of M.P. And Anr

2. By notification dated 28.5.1987 issued under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, ‘the Act’), which was published on 12.6.1987, the Government of Madhya Pradesh acquired the appellants’ land measuring 3.627 hectares comprised in Survey Nos.2, 10, 20, 22, 46, 48 and 166 of Village Jagatpur, Tehsil Kolaras, District Shivpuri for construction of Broad Gauge Rail Line by the Central Railway. Another parcel of land measuring 0.951 hectares comprised in Survey No.18, of which the appellants were the occupancy tenants, was also acquired by the same notification. The possession of the acquired land was taken on 30.11.1987. The Land Acquisition Officer passed an award dated 26.8.1989 and held that for the land measuring 3.627 hectares, the appellants are entitled to total compensation of Rs.16,419 with solatium of Rs.4,926 and interest amounting to Rs.985. For the land comprised in Survey No.18, no compensation was awarded to the appellants. Instead, compensation was paid to respondent Nos.3 and 4, namely, Jagdish Narayan s/o Mool Chand and Chandra Mohan s/o Ram Dayal, whose names were recorded in the revenue records.

3. The appellants did not feel satisfied and filed applications under Section 18 of the Act for determination of the amount of compensation by the Court. They also filed an application under Section 30 of the Act and pleaded that respondent Nos.3 and 4 are not entitled to receive any compensation. Thereupon, the Collector made a reference to District Judge, Shivpuri. The latter assigned the cases to the Reference Court. The reference applications filed by the appellants were registered as Civil Miscellaneous Case No.3/1991 and 13/1998 respectively and the application filed under Section 30 was registered as Civil Miscellaneous Suit No.12/1998.

4. In Civil Miscellaneous Case No.3/1991, the appellants prayed for award of compensation at the rate of Rs.5 per square yard. They pleaded that the acquired land has good development potential and the Land Acquisition Officer committed serious error by treating the same as agricultural land. The appellants also claimed compensation of Rs.18 lacs by alleging that due to laying of railway line, their lands were bifurcated and its value was considerably diminished. They further alleged that the authorities of Central Railway had illegally taken possession of their land and the earth was dug out from an area measuring 6 hectares rendering the entire land unfit for cultivation.

5. The respondents contested the claim petition and pleaded that the Land Acquisition Officer did not commit any illegality by fixing market value of the acquired land by relying upon the sale deeds relating to agricultural lands.

12. The appellants and Union of India challenged the judgments of the Reference Court by filing appeals under Section 54 of the Act. The learned Single Judge referred to the oral and documentary evidence produced by the parties and held that the Reference Court did not commit any error by holding that market value of the acquired land cannot be more than Rs.6 per sq. ft. The learned Judge made various deductions and held that market value of the acquired land would be Re.1 per sq.ft. The appeals were accordingly disposed of by declaring that the appellants are entitled to compensation for the land acquired vide notification dated 28.5.1987 at the rate of Re.1 per sq. ft with other statutory benefits like solatium and interest.

This Court in Hasanali Khanbhai & Sons v. State of Gujarat and Land Acquisition Officer v. Nookala Rajamallu had noticed that where lands are acquired for specific purposes, deduction by way of development charges is permissible. In the instant case, acquisition is for laying a railway line. Therefore, the question of development thereof would not arise. Therefore, the order passed by the High Court is liable to be set aside and in view of the availability of basic civic amenities such as school, bank, police station, water supply, electricity, highway, transport, post, petrol pump, industry, telecommunication and other businesses, the claim of compensation should reasonably be fixed @ Rs 250 per sq m with the deduction of 20%. The appellant shall be entitled to all other statutory benefits such as solatium, interest, etc. etc. The appellants also will be entitled to compensation for the trees standing on the said land in a sum of Rs.59,192 as fixed. IA No. 1 of 2006 for substitution is ordered as prayed for.”

31. The issue which remains to be considered relates to the amount of compensation payable to the appellants. For this purpose, we shall make calculation by adopting the following modes:

35. So far as the appellants’ plea for award of damages caused on account of removal of fencing of Sant Farm, loss of earning due to damage to crops/farming operation and destruction of well existing on the land is concerned, we do not consider it necessary to deal with the same because the issue is being dealt with in C.A. No.1248 of 2007.

36. In the result, the appeal is allowed, the impugned judgment and the award of the Reference Court are set aside and it is declared that the appellants are entitled to compensation at the rate of Rs.5 per sq.ft. with other statutory benefits. They shall also be entitled to interest on the element of solatium.

37. The respondents are directed to pay the amount of enhanced compensation and other statutory benefits including solatium and interest to the appellants within a period of six months from today.

November 29, 2013.