Point of Law: Land Acquisition and Requisition - Compensation - compensation ought to be determined by reckoning the market value of the land instead being the date on which Notification under Section 126(2) of the Act of 1966 was issued.

JUDGMENT :

A.S.Chandurkar, J.

Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith and heard the learned counsel for the parties in both the writ petitions at length.

2. Land bearing Survey No.94 at Chikhali, Taluka and District Nagpur admeasuring about 9.56 acres which is owned by the petitioners in Writ Petition No.5492/2019-land owners is the subject matter of the present proceedings. In 1981 the Nagpur Improvement Trust agreed to allot 126 acres of land towards Kalmana Market Project to the Agricultural Produce Market Committee, Nagpur which is the petitioner in Writ Petition No.5351/2019-Market Committee. From the total area of about 126 acres, the Market Committee received possession of 110.88 acres of land while the possession of the remaining land admeasuring 15.27 acres remained to be delivered. According to the Market Committee, a proposal dated 26.07.2003 was given by the land owners to the Market Committee by which the said land was offered to the Market Committee at the rate of Rs. Five lakhs per acre. Resolution to that effect was passed by the Market Committee resolving that land admeasuring 9.56 acres would be acquired at Rs. Five lakhs per acre and 5.81 acres land would be permitted to be retained by the land owners. On 28.06.2005 a joint application was made by the Market Committee as well as the land owners to the Land Acquisition Officer for acquiring the aforesaid land. It appears that subsequently on an Administrator taking charge of the Market Committee, nothing further progressed. Ultimately on 04.05.2012 the Collector informed the Market Committee of the passing of provisional award and called upon the Market Committee to deposit a sum of Rs.12,08,40,720/- towards compensation for the said land. The aforesaid communication gave rise to Writ Petition No.503/2013 that was filed by the Market Committee challenging that communication with a prayer to make an award in terms of the mutual agreement between the parties. By the judgment dated 05.12.2015 this Court turned down the challenge as raised to the passing of the provisional award after noticing that the Market Committee had proceeded to deny the title of the land owners in the enquiry under Section 5A of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, ‘the Act of 1894’). That judgment dated 05.12.2015 in Writ Petition No.503/2013 was challenged by the Market Committee before the Honourable Supreme Court by filing Special Leave Petition No. 17353/2016. The said Special Leave Petition came to be dismissed on 03.10.2016 by clarifying that while fixing the value of the land, the benefit that was given to the State in respect of 3.32 acres on the main road would be considered along with all other relevant aspects in case there was acquisition. Review Petition filed by the Market Committee was also dismissed on 20.04.2017.

3. On the dismissal of the Special Leave Petition the land owners requested the Land Acquisition Officer to value the land as per provisions of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (for short, ‘the Act of 2013’). It was submitted that the land owners were willing to offer the land to the Market Committee under the Act of 2013. In that regard the Land Acquisition Officer called upon the Secretary of the Market Committee to submit a fresh proposal if it was interested in the land in question or to take steps as per the policy of the State Government dated 12.05.2015 to acquire the land by private negotiations. This was followed by two reminders dated 09.11.2016 and 23.11.2016. The Information Officer from the Land Acquisition Office informed the land owners on 19.01.2017 that as the Market Committee had not deposited the requisite amount, the proceedings had lapsed. It was also informed that no acquisition proceedings were pending with the said Authority. In the meanwhile, the land owners on 19.06.2017 issued a notice under Section 127 of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966 (