Restitution when applicable.

The appellants in these two C.M.As. are the Kanthimathi Mills Ltd. through its Managing Director, and the only respondent in C.M.A. No. 41 of 1957 and the first respondent in C.M.A. No. 42 of 1957 is the Special Land Acquisition Officer for Co-operative Housing Schemes, Madras. There are three other respondents in C.M.A. No. 42 of 1957, who gave security on behalf of the appellant for withdrawing a portion of the decree amount in O.P. No. 1 of 1949.

C.M.A. No. 41 of 1957 arises out of E.A. No. 124 of 1956 and C.M.A. No. 42 of 1957 arises out of E.A. No. 75 of 1956, both filed in O.P. No. 1 of 1949 on the file of the Court of the Subordinate Judge, Tirunelveli. O.P. No 1 of 1949 was instituted by the Kanthimathi Mills, Ltd., under section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act claiming enhanced compensation for its land acquired by the Special Land Acquisition Office for Co-operative Housing Schemes. By the order in that O.P. the Subordinate Judge awarded enhanced compensation of Rs. 35,643-9-0 on 3rd September, 1040 with interest at 6 per cent. per annum on that amount from 30th June, 1948. Against that decree, the Special Land Acquisition Officer filed A.S. No. 195 of 1950 in this Court.

During the pendency of that appeal, the Land Acquisition Officer applied in C.M.P. No. 3122 of 1950 for stay of execution of the decree of the Subordinate Judge. That petition was ordered by Somasundaram, J., on 17th August 1950 directing the Government to deposit the amount decreed by the Subordinate Judge and giving liberty to the claimant decree-holder to withdraw that amount on furnishing security. The total amount due under the decree of the Subordinate Judge amounted to Rs. 40,366-5-0 on 20th September, 1950, the date on which the Government deposited this amount in the Court of the Subordinate Judge . On 7th July, 1951, on the security furnished by respondents 2 to 4 in C.M.A. No 42 of 1957, the decree-holder was permitted to withdraw Rs. 26,500 from the amount in Court-deposit. Subsequently, that is, on 21st October, 1954, the sureties applied to the Court to release one item of property given by them as security and for this purpose, they re-deposited Rs. 15,000 into Court. The Court allowed this item of property to be released and accepted the re-deposit. This Court in A.S. No 10 of 1950 reduced the amount of compensation to Rs. 15,576-0-10. Thereafter the Special Land Acquisition Officer filed E.A. No. 75 of 1956, claiming interest on Rs. 20,067-8-2 by way of restitution from 20th September, 1950, till date of payment, and sought an order, directing respondents 2 to 4 to that application namely the sureties, to deposit into Court the sum of Rs. 6,421-9-7 for payment to the petitioner or to assign to the petitioner the security bond dated 17th June, 1951, given to Court by respondents 2 to 4 to enable the petitioner to realise the amount due by the sureties from the secured property. Shortly after E.A. No. 75 of 1956 was filed by the Land Acquisition Officer, the claimant-Mills filed E.A. No. 124 of 1956 for an order directing the Government to make payment to them of Rs 900-13-0 with further interest thereon from 5th December, 1955 till payment. This amount was claimed under the following circumstances. Rs. 11,500 had been already drawn by the claimant through his sureties, that is, Rs. 26,500 originally drawn through the sureties minus Rs. 15,000 re-deposited by them. In E.A. No. 264 of 1955 the petitioner withdrew from the amount in Court-deposit a sum of Rs. 4,284-14-5 on 5th December, 1955. It was alleged that this sum of Rs. 4,284-14-5 was claimed as the only sum due to the claimant under the mistaken belief that interest ceased to run on the amount deposited by the Government from the date of deposit. It was also alleged that the claimant was then advised that they were entitled to claim interest on the amount payable to them under the decree of the High Court only up to the date when they withdrew Rs. 4,284-14-5 that is, 5t