The court established that compliance with social impact assessment requirements is essential in land acquisition proceedings under the LA&RR Act.

JUDGMENT

The petitioners are aggrieved by the land acquisition proceedings initiated by the respondents 1 to 6 for acquisition of the additional land to the construction of the buildings for the Medical College and construction of the KSEB sub station for Government Medical College, Manjeri. According to the petitioners, the acquisition proceedings are being carried out without following the statutory mandates under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act , 2013 (for short 'LA&RR Act).

2. The petitioners are owners of various parcels of land acquired by the respondents for the aforementioned purpose. The 2nd respondent issued Ext.P1 notification proposing to acquire 2.8107 hectares of properties for the above purpose. After Ext.P1, Ext.P2 revised order was issued by the 2nd respondent revising the cost of acquisition. The 7th respondent, formed a sub committee under the chairmanship of the local MLA, the Chairperson of the Manjeri Municipality and other Municipal Councilors of Manjeri Municipality, and submitted an alternate proposal for the development of the Medical College Hospital before the District Collector/4th respondent stating that 50 acres of land is available for acquisition just two kilometers away from the existing campus of the Medical College and out of the total 50 acres, 25 acres of land was prepared to be surrendered free of cost by the land owners, if the Government is ready to acquire the other 25 acres by paying market value. The said proposal is Ext.P4. In the meanwhile, the Government engaged an agency – Don Bosco Arts and Science College, Iritty, Kannur - to conduct social impact assessment study for the proposed acquisition and the said agency, after detailed study, submitted Ext.P5 report. According to the petitioners, in Ext.P5 study report, there are several remarks of adverse impacts on the acquisition. In Ext.P5 it was recommended that final decision regarding acquisition can only be taken by an expert committee. Thereafter, Ext.P5 was referred to an expert committee constituted under Section 7 (2) of the LA&RR Act. In Ext.P6, the expert committee recommended to conduct a social impact assessment study in respect of the alternate proposal and feasibility of the construction of the KSEB sub station in the alternate proposed property and to make available electricity through dedicated feeder system. Thereafter, the 3rd respondent passed Ext.P7 order under Section 8 (2) of the LA&RR Act deciding to proceed with the acquisition. It is challenging Ext.P7, the petitioners have approached this Court.

3. I have heard Sri. Babu S. Nair, the learned counsel for the petitioners and Smt. N. Sudhadevi, the learned Special Government Pleader.

4. The learned counsel for the petitioners Sri. Babu S. Nair submitted that though Exts. P5 and P6 were available before the appropriate Government, the 3rd respondent arbitrarily passed Ext.P7 order without considering the alternate proposal and without following the statutory mandate under the LA&RR Act. On the other hand, the learned Government Pleader submitted that the Government has examined the recommendations of the sub committee, the report of the expert committee, the social impact assessment study report, the report of the District Collector and found that the original proposal is more feasible and viable than the alternate proposal and accordingly decided to proceed with the acquisition. The learned Government Pleader further submitted that the said decision of the Government cannot be questioned by invoking Article 226 of the Constitution of India.

5. Section 4 of the LA&RR Act deals with the preparation of social impact assessment study. It says that, whenever the appropriate Government intends to acquire land for a public purpose, it shall consult the concerned Panchayat, Municipality or Municipal Corporation, as the case may be, at village level or ward level, in the affected area and carry ou