IMPORTANT POINT
Acquisition of land – Compensation determined on the basis of Notification 5 years later, cannot be a yardstick for determining compensation for land which is acquired five years before.

JUDGMENT :

M.R. Shah, J.

1. Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned judgment and order dated 28.01.2020, passed by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad in First Appeal Defective No.308 of 2015, by which the High Court has rejected the said appeal after a period of approximately 16 years (as per the appellant, there was a delay of 26 years) by which the High Court has enhanced the compensation payable to the land owners to Rs.297/- per sq.yard, NOIDA has preferred the present appeal.

2. The facts leading to the present appeal in a nutshell, are as under:

2.1 That the land in question situated in Village Gheja Tilapatabad, Tehsil and Pargana Dadri, District Ghaziabad (now District Gautam Budh Nagar) was acquired for the planned development by the NOIDA, vide Notification issued under Section 4, dated 22.11.1982. A declaration under the provisions of Section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 was issued on 23.11.1982. The possession of the acquired land was taken over by the State on 22.02.1983. The Land Acquisition Officer/Collector declared the Award dated 05.09.1983 and awarded/determined the compensation at Rs.30,000/- per bigha, relying upon the sale deed dated 02.11.1982 of certain parcels of land in the village itself. The father of the contesting respondents accepted the compensation. At the instance of the original owners – father of the contesting respondents, a Reference under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 raising objections against the Award was made. The original claimants claimed compensation @ Rs.60,000/- per bigha. On contest, by a detailed judgment and order dated 04.05.1989, the Reference Court dismissed the said Reference along with other references. Review applications were filed which came to be dismissed in the year 1998. That after a period of 16 years from the date of rejection of the review applications in the year 2014/2015, the respondents filed the present first appeal before the High Court and relied upon the judgment in some other first appeals by which the compensation was enhanced to Rs.297/- per sq.yard. By the impugned judgment and order, the High Court has condoned the delay of 16 years, however it has denied the interest during the period of delay, and has enhanced the amount of compensation to Rs.297/- per yard. Hence, the present appeal at the instance of the NOIDA.

3. Learned Counsel appearing on behalf of the NOIDA has vehemently submitted that the High Court has materially erred in entertaining the appeal after a period of 16 years from the date of dismissal of the review application and after a period of 26 years from the date of the decision by the Reference Court.

3.1 It is submitted that even otherwise, on merits also in view of the subsequent decision of this Court in the case of Asha Ram (Dead) through LRs and Others v. U.P. Awas Avam Vikas Parishad and Another, (2022) 2 SCC 567 with respect to the land acquisition of 1982, this Hon’ble Court has reduced the amount of compensation to Rs.120/- per sq.yard, the claimants shall not be entitled to compensation at the rate of Rs.297/- per sq.yard, as awarded by the High Court.

3.2 It is submitted that as such, in the subsequent decision in the case of U.P. Awas Avam Vikas Parishad (supra), this Court did consider its earlier decision in the case of Narendra and Others v. State of Uttar Pradesh and Others, (2017) 9 SCC 426 , by which this Court for the acquisition with respect to the nearby villages of the year 1988, has allowed compensation @ Rs.297/- per sq.yard. However, it is submitted that considering the development which took place between the year 19821986/ 1988 this Court in the case of U.P. Awas Avam Vikas Parishad (supra), did not accept the case on behalf of the claimants for awarding Rs.297/- per sq.yard and determined the compensation for the lands acquired in the year 1982, at Rs.120/- per sq.