Prabhakar s/o Dhondiba Dhanpalwar vs State of Maharashtra

Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation

2022 Supreme(Bom) 622

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD
SHRIKANT D. KULKARNI, J.
Prabhakar s/o Dhondiba Dhanpalwar - Appellant
Versus
The State of Maharashtra - Respondent
First Appeal No. 276, 278 - 280, 283, 286-288, 290 OF 2002, Civil Application No.9654, 9691, 9689, 9693 OF 2018, 9554 of 2017, 13018 of 2019
Decided on : 01-04-2022

Advocate Appeared:
For the Appellant :Mr. M.D. Narwadkar and Mr. M.V. Deshpande, Advocates
For the Respondent:Mr B.V. Virdhe, Mr S.P. Sonpawale, Mr A.R. Tapse, Advocate

Headnote:
Land Acquisition Act, 1894 - Section 4, 12, 18, 54, 6, 9, 23(2), 28 and 34 - Land - Compensation - Appellants/original claimants are resident of village - Their lands came to be acquired for major irrigation dam known as ‘Lendi Project’ - Special Land Acquisition Officer was pleased to pass award under section 12 of Act in respect of above referred acquired lands - Special Land Acquisition Officer awarded compensation to claimants – Held, Lastly, coming to intervention application vide Civil Application moved by applicants/ inervenors who happened to be real brothers and legal heirs of deceased i.e. brother of deceased - According to Mr A.R. Tapse, learned counsel for intervenors/applicants, they are necessary party to appeal and they are entitled to get their share in compensation amount - It is rightly pointed out by learned AGP and learned counsel for acquiring body that these two applicants/intervenors were not party to proceedings of reference filed under section 18 of Act, 1894 - Both of them have rightly pointed out that legal interest of applicants/intervenors is in dispute - As such, their prayer to intervene in appeal cannot be entertained – Court found merit in submissions of learned AGP and learned counsel for acquiring body - Admittedly, applicants/intervenors were not party to reference proceedings under section 18 of Act - They were aware about their land acquisition proceedings as well as reference under section 18 of Act - They did not put forth their legal right if any before Reference Court - After decision of Reference under section 18 of Act, and that too at appeal proceedings of year, they have filed this intervention application - Appeals partly allowed.

JUDGMENT :

1. This batch of appeals can be disposed of by common Judgment.

2. The dispute in narrow compass is as under :-

(a) The appellants/original claimants are resident of village Ravangaon, Tal. Mukhed, Dist. Nanded. Their lands came to be acquired for major irrigation dam known as ‘Lendi Project’. The area of acquired land of respective claimants arising out of the appeals are given below in the chart.

Sr. No.	First Appeal Number	Land Acquisition Reference Number	Survey Number	Acquired Area	Compensation granted by S.L.A.O	Compensation claimed	Category of lands made by claimants	Category of lands made by SLAO on basis of revenue assessment
1	FA/276/2002	42/1994	42/A/3	1H. 17 R	Rs.32500/- P.H.	75,000/-	Dry Land	C
2	FA/278/2002	46/1994	42/A/1	0.44 R	Rs.32500/- P.H	75,000/-	Dry Land	C
3.	FA/279/2002	53/1994	44/B/2	3H. 69 R	Rs.38000/- P.H.	1,50,000/-	Irrigated Land	D
4	FA/280/2002	54/1994	41/A/1	1H. 63 R	Rs.33000/- P.H	75,000/-	Dry Land	D
5	FA/283/2002	55/1994	44/A/4	1H.	Rs.35650/- P.H.	1,50,000/-	Irrigated Land	D
6.	FA/284/2002	47/1994	44/A/2	1H.	Rs.35650/- P.H.	1,50,000/-	Irrigated Land	D
7.	FA/285/200	43/1994	44/A/3	1H.	Rs.35650/- P.H.	87,000/-	Dry Land	D
8.	FA/287/2002	48/1994	42/A/2	1H. 16R	Rs.32500/- P.H	87,000/-	Dry Land	C
9	FA/288/2002	52/1994	42/C	0.89 R	Rs.32000/- P.H.	75,000/-	Dry Land	C
10	FA/290/2002	51/1994	44/A/4	1H.	Rs.35650/- P.H.	1,50,000/-	Irrigated Land	D
11	FA/286/2002	45/1994	42/B	1H.55R	Rs.32,000 P.H	Rs.75,000/-	Dry Land	C

(b) The notification under section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act’ for the sake of convenience) was published on 26.03.1992. The Special Land Acquisition Officer was pleased to pass award under section 12 of the Act on 16.06.1994 in respect of above referred acquired lands. The Special Land Acquisition Officer awarded the compensation to the claimants by making three categories of the acquired land as under :

(i) Rs. 32,000/- P.H. for category B - treated as dry land

(ii) Rs. 32,500/- for category C - treated as dry and,

(iii) Rs. 33,000/- for category D - treated as Bagayat land

(c) The claimants produced their oral evidence in support of their claim. In addition to oral evidence, they have produced copies of sale instances vide Exh. 20 to 22 in LAR Nos. 54/1992 from village Gonegaon and sale instances vide Exh. 23 and 24 from village Ravangaon.

(d) The Reference Court was pleased to discard sale instances vide Exh. 23 and 24 on the ground that they are post notification under section 4 of the Act. The sale instance vide Exh. 21 dated 23.04.1992 was not relied upon by the Reference Court on the ground that it is in respect of 4 R land. The sale instances vide Exh. 20 and 22 are also not accepted by the Reference Court since though sale instances are before notification under section 4 of the Act, no satisfactory evidence is produced by the respective claimants in order to show the distance between the acquired lands and their lands under sale deeds vide Exh. 20 and 22.

(e) The Reference Court was pleased to dismiss all the claims filed by the respective claimants under section 18 of the Act under common Judgment and award dated 23.11.1995.

(f) Feeling aggrieved by the impugned common Judgment and award passed by the Reference Court, the claimants have preferred these appeals before this Court by taking aid of section 54 of the Act on various grounds.

3. Heard Mr M.D. Narwadkar, learned counsel for the appellants/claimants, Mr B.V. Virdhe, learned AGP for the State/Respondent Nos. 1 and 2, Mr S.P. Sonpawale, learned counsel for respondent No.3/acquiring body and Mr A.R. Tapse, learned counsel for the interveno

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2022 Supreme(Bom) 622

Cases Referred (7)