The RFCTLARR Act, 2013 does not retroactively apply to compensation awards made prior to its enactment, but interest is due for delayed disbursement of compensation.

ORDER

1. These writ petitions under Article 226 of the Constitution of India have been preferred, in sum and substance, with the following prayers and for the sake of convenience, the prayer clause is being taken from the case being S.B. Civil Writ Petition No.2000/2021.

"A. The compensation award dated 24.09.2013 (Annex.4) made by the land acquisition officer cum SDO, Luni may kindly be quashed and set aside.

B. In the alternately, the compensation award may kindly be directed to be made afresh while taking into consideration of provisions of RFCTLARR Act, 2013.

C. The respondents may be directed to pay interest @ 9% per annum to the petitioners from the date of initial notification till receipt of payment of compensation."

2. The brief facts as noticed by this Court are that the petitioners were having agricultural land at Village Boranada Patwar, Tehsil Luni, District Jodhpur. There was a notification issued by the Government of Rajasthan on 16.08.2010 under Section 4 of the Rajasthan Land Acquisition Act, 1894 for acquisition of land for the development of industrial area. The compensation of award was made under Section 11 of the Act of 1894 after adhering to all other procedures on 24.09.2013. The amount was however, not available to be disbursed by the respondent upto three years from 2013, as it is reflected in the RTI document, which is at page no.85 of the writ petition; the amount in question itself came for disbursement in the year 2016.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the act of Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (for short 'the Act of 2013') has to be made applicable in the present matter.

4 Learned counsel for the respondent has relied upon the judgment rendered by Hon'ble Division Bench of this Court in the case of The Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation Ltd. & Anr. Vs. Jawari Lal Jain & Ors. (D.B. Special Appeal Writ No.173/2019), decided on 06.07.2020, relevant portion of which reads as under :-

"14. Coming to the contention of the learned counsel for the respondents that even under the Scheme of Act of 1894, as soon as the award is passed, the Collector must be armed with the amount of compensation payable to the person interested, suffice it to say that no such case was ever set out by the writ petitioners in the writ petition filed or the present appeals and therefore, the question of consideration of the abstract contention sought to be raised by the writ petitioners at this stage, without any foundation of fact, cannot be entertained by this Court. Moreover, under Section 31 of the Act of 1894, on making the award under Section 11, the Collector shall tender payment of compensation awarded by him to the persons interested entitled thereto according to award and shall pay it to them unless prevented by some one or more of the contingency mentioned in sub-sections (2), (3) and (4) of Section 31. From the provisions of Section 31, in no manner it could be inferred that if the award amount is deposited with some delay, it will vitiate the acquisition proceedings. It is pertinent to note that the writ petitioners have already accepted the amount of compensation with interest and therefore, at this stage, even otherwise, they are precluded from raising any issue regarding the legality of land acquisition proceedings on the ground of alleged violation of the provisions of the Act of 1894. "

4.1. Thus, the prayer of compensation to be awarded under the Act of 2013 cannot be accepted.

5. The contention regarding the window given under Section 24 of the Act of 2013 is also settled by Hon'ble Apex Court as well as the language of the act itself, which provide for an award to come within the domain of the Act of 2013 only if the same was passed five years before the Act was brought into existence and admittedly, the award is of 2013 and subsequently the Act of 2013 also come into force, thus, the window of