The District Collector is the appropriate authority under the 2013 Act for land acquisition procedures, and compliance with statutory requirements is essential for validity.

JUDGMENT :

(A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar, J.)

The petitioner in W.P.(C).No.242 of 2021 is the appellant before us, aggrieved by the judgment dated 14.03.2025 of a learned Single Judge dismissing the writ petition.

2. The brief facts necessary for disposal of the Writ Appeal are as follows:

The appellant had approached the writ court challenging Ext.P2 order dated 05.10.2016 issued by the 2^nd respondent District Collector, Kannur accrediting the 6^th respondent as an agency for conducting Social Impact Assessment and submitting time bound reports. He had also impugned Ext.P7 notification dated 28.09.2020 issued by the 2^nd respondent District Collector, Kannur appointing the 7^th respondent as the Social Impact Assessment Unit as also Ext.P8 report dated 19.10.2020 of the 7^th respondent and Ext.P9 report dated 06.11.2020 prepared by the Expert Committee constituted by the District Collector, Kannur. There was also a separate challenge to Ext.P13 order dated 11.11.2020 issued by the 2^nd respondent, Ext.P11 preliminary notification dated 19.11.2020 issued by the 2^nd respondent as well as a prayer for declaration that Rule 18 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Kerala) Rules, 2015 and the Form 7 prescribed thereunder were ultra vires the Act No.30 of 2013.

3. The crux of the arguments of the appellant while claiming the reliefs aforementioned was that Ext.P2 order appointing the agencies mentioned therein was per se illegal as it was passed without following the procedure as established by law. In particular, it was pointed out that the Social Impact Assessment Units for carrying out the Social Impact Assessment Study had to be empanelled by the appropriate Government after following the procedure prescribed under the Right to Fair Compensation, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 [hereinafter referred to as the “2013 Act”], and in the instant case, it was the District Collector who had resorted to the selection and empanelment of the Social Impact Assessment Units for the purposes of the 2013 Act and Rules. It is the further contention of the learned counsel that although by virtue of the provisions of Section 3(e) of the 2013 Act, the District Collector could be deemed to be the 'appropriate Government' for the purposes of the 2013 Act, in the instant case, there was no justification for the issuance of a Section 4(1) notification by the District Collector since, going by the statutory provisions, the said notification had to be issued by the appropriate Government which, in the instant case, was the State Government. Various other contentions regarding the alleged prejudice that would be caused to the appellant on account of the acquisition proceedings and the determination of compensation were also highlighted by the learned counsel for the appellant.

4. The contentions of the appellant were dealt with by the learned Single Judge, who considered the writ petition, and at paragraphs 23 to 35 of the impugned judgment, there is a comprehensive answer to the various issues raised by the appellant, both in the writ petition as well as before us in the writ appeal. The said paragraphs of the impugned judgment read as under:

“23. A reading of Section 3(e) of the RFCTLARR Act makes it evident that the 'appropriate Government' for the acquisition of land within the territory of a State is the State Government, except when the acquisition is for a public purpose in a district within a notified area, in which case the Collector of that district shall be deemed the 'appropriate Government. The proviso to Section 3(e) requires notification by the State Government for a particular area within the district to be acquired for public purpose and for such limited area, the Collector would be authorised by deeming fiction to act as the appropriate Government. Ext.P1 is the notification issued by the Government of Kerala, in exercise of the powers under the proviso to Section 3(e) of t