Point of Law: In the matter of enhancement of compensation under section 28A of the Land Acquisition Act the question of application of Section 3 of the Lushai Hills District (House Site) Act, 1953 does not arise and allowed the writ petition.

JUDGMENT :

Heard Mr. L.H. Lianhrima, the learned senior counsel appearing for the appellant and Mrs. Linda Fambawl, the learned counsel appearing for the State respondents.

2. This is an appeal filed by the appellant/plaintiff against the dismissal of Money Suit No. 1/2015vide Judgment and Order dated 08.11.2019, passed by the Court of the Senior Civil Judge, Serchhip.

3. The case of the appellant/plaintiff’s is that he was allotted some portion of land within the area of N. Mualcheng Village Council in the year 2001 wherein, he planted as many as 380 orange trees and earned not less than Rs.1,60,000/-per annum since 2009 and enjoyed the products for the last four years. That on 28th March, 2014 (Friday) the electric conductor/wire which hung across the land of the plaintiff got damaged and broke in the land of the Appellant/plaintiff due to the negligence of the respondents/defendants. As a result of the broken live electric wire, 150 number of his orange trees were burnt to ashes. That the appellant/plaintiff had immediately reported the matter to the state respondents and prayed for compensation but to no avail and hence he filed the case in the Court of Senior Civil Judge, Serchhip. The suit was contested by the respondent/defendant no.5 who denied that the appellant had planted 380 orange trees as stated by him and that as many as 150 number of orange trees were destroyed by the broken electric wire. That on spot verification only 18 numbers of trees were burnt down by the live electric wire. That the appellant/plaintiff could not produce any certificate to show that the land was allotted to him. On the basis of the pleadings the lower court had framed the following issues :

4. After examining four plaintiff witnesses and two defendant witnesses, the learned Trial Court decided issue Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 6 in favour of the defendant/Government respondents relying upon the ruling passed by the Hon’ble Gauhati High Court in the case of Shri Thantluanga & 8 Ors. v. State of Mizoram & 5 others in WP(C) No.139 of 2016 wherein this court held that “Section 3 of the Lushai Hills District (House Site) Act, 1983 is to the effect that a village Council is competent to allot sites within its jurisdiction only for residential purposes. The Village Council accordingly has no power to allot Garden Pass or any other Pass for agriculture purposes. The issuance of a Garden Pass by the Village Council does not give any right to the pass holders to claim any form of compensation, as they are not the owners of the land”. The learned lower court reasoned that even if the plaintiff had a valid Village Council Pass, he had no legal basis to claim for compensation for his orange trees. That the plaintiff in the absence of any valid permit or document to prove that the land was allotted to him or that the orange plantation was under the NLUP Scheme has no locus standi to file the suit and is not maintainable. The lower court however decided issue no. 4 & 5 in favour of the plaintiff/appellant. From the evidence adduce in the court, the learned Sr. Civil judge held that 150 orange trees of the plaintiff was burnt to ashes on that partic