Din Dayal Thakur … v. 1. The State of Jharkhand 2. The Secretary, Revenue, Registration and Land Reforms Department
Case Details
1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI W.P.(C) No. 2314 of 2020 Din Dayal Thakur ….. Petitioner Versus 1. The State of Jharkhand 2. The Secretary, Revenue, Registration and Land Reforms Department, Government of Jharkhand, Ranchi 3. The Deputy Commissioner, Dhanbad 4. The Additional Collector, Dhanbad 5. The District Land Acquisition Officer, Dhanbad 6. National Highway Authority of India, Govindpur, Dhanbad 7. The Project Officer, National Highway Authority of India, National Highway Road No.2, Govindpur, Dhanbad ….. Respondents ----- CORAM HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH SHANKAR For the Petitioner: For the State: For the NHAI:
Legal Reasoning
----- Mr. Atanu Banerjee Mr. Ravi Prakash Mishra, A.C to A.A.G-II Ms. Sweety Topno ----- 05/03.04.2023 The present writ petition has been filed for issuance of direction upon the concerned respondents to pay appropriate compensation to the petitioner as per the current market value in lieu of acquisition of his land for widening of National Highway No.2 (Barwadda to Aurangabad Section) upon reconsideration of the matter in terms with the order dated 28.12.2018 passed by the Additional Collector-cum-Arbitrator, Dhanbad under the National Highways Act, 1956 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act, 1956’) directing the respondent Nos. 5 & 6 to ensure payment of due compensation in accordance with rule after making enquiry and verification with regard to the acquired land and the structures standing over the same. Further prayer has been made for quashing the part of the general notice issued vide memo No. 673 dated 22.06.2020 (Annexure-9 to the writ petition) so far it relates to Plot No. 142/1 of Mouza-Brahmandiha, District-Dhanbad whereby it has been communicated to the concerned beneficiaries that the awarded amount of unwilling awardees has been forwarded to the District and Sessions Judge-cum-Authority, Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement, Hazaribagh and further direction has been issued to them to ensure vacation of the acquired land till 26.06.2020, otherwise 2 from 27.06.2020, the road project work over the said land/section would be started in national interest in presence of magistrate and police force appointed by the District Administration, Dhanbad. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner is the owner of 0.0124 Acre of land situated at Mouza-Brahmandiha, Mouza No. 162, Khata No. 157, Plot No. 142/1, District-Dhanbad, which was notified to be acquired for widening of NH-2 vide notification issued on 31.07.2013 in local daily newspaper, namely, ‘Prabhat Khabar’. The said land is the ancestral property of the petitioner which is part of the land measuring an area of 05 Decimals of Plot No. 142 which came in the share of the petitioner pursuant to family partition made through deed dated 16.06.2007 comprising of Plot Nos. 142 & 144 of the said Khata, measuring total area of 11 Decimals. The petitioner had constructed a house over the said land in the year 1995, out of which 0.0124 Acre came under acquisition for widening of NH-2. It is further submitted that though an award was prepared in the name of the petitioner’s father for the said land as well as the house vide Award No. 51 dated 11.02.2016 in L.A. Case No. 26/2014-15 for an amount of Rs.12,21,452/-, however, while computing the said compensation, the actual value of the house constructed over the said land was not taken into consideration. Accordingly, on an objection filed by the petitioner, Arbitration Case No. 11/2017 was instituted by the Additional Collector-cum-Arbitrator, Dhanbad under the Act, 1956 which was disposed of vide order dated 28.12.2018 directing the respondent Nos. 5 & 6 to ensure due payment of compensation after proper verification of the acquired land as well as structure standing over the same. The grievance of the petitioner is that despite the said order passed by the Arbitrator, the respondent No.5 has not taken any action in this regard, rather has erroneously referred the issue with regard to payment of compensation for acquisition of land of Mouza-Brahmandiha including the said land of the petitioner i.e. Plot No. 142/1 to the Principal District and Sessions 3 Judge-cum-Authority, Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement, Hazaribagh vide memo No. 673 dated 22.06.2020. Under the said compelling circumstance, the petitioner has preferred the present writ petition. The respondent Nos. 1 to 5 in their counter affidavit have mainly stated that the award was prepared after due verification of the structure standing over the acquired land. However, the petitioner did not receive the compensation as per the award and hence the matter was referred to the Principal District and Sessions Judge-cum-Authority, Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement, Hazaribagh vide memo No. 673 dated 22.06.2020. The respondent Nos. 6 & 7 have also filed their counter affidavit stating inter alia that the petitioner’s representation for revaluation was also received by the concerned office of NHAI. Thereafter, the government valuer was asked to re-measure the structure of the petitioner standing over Plot No. 142. Subsequently, revaluation was done on 19.06.2017 and valuation report was submitted to the Office of the Executive Engineer, Building Construction Division, Dhanbad for vetting and forwarding the same to the respondent No.5 for preparing 3G estimate award on 09.10.2017, 29.08.2017 & 12.10.2017. Again on 04.04.2018, valuation sheet was duly submitted before the Executive Engineer, Building Construction Division, Dhanbad, who vide letter No. 1480 dated 25.06.2018, returned the valuation report after vetting the same. Vide letter No. 653 dated 07.07.2018, the vetted revised valuation report was forwarded to the respondent No.5 for preparing the award under Section 3G of the Act, 1956 and the same is pending before him. It is thus important to note that though the Additional Collector-cum- Arbitrator, Dhanbad under the Act, 1956 has passed the award on 28.12.2018 directing the respondent Nos. 5 & 6 to ensure due payment of compensation after properly verifying the acquired land as well as structure standing over the same, however, as per the stand taken by the respondent Nos. 6 & 7 in their counter affidavit, re-measurement/re-valuation of the structure standing over 4 the land in question was already done on 19.06.2017 i.e. before passing the said award. Unfortunately the said fact was not brought to the notice of the Arbitrator at the time of passing of the award dated 28.12.2018 and the revised valuation report of the structure standing over the said land was available with the respondent No.5. In the said circumstance, the respondent No.5 was required to take into consideration the said revised valuation report submitted through the NHAI vide letter No. 653 dated 07.07.2018 and to proceed also taking into consideration the award dated 28.12.2018 passed by the Arbitrator. However, instead of doing so, the respondent No.5 has committed a serious error of law by referring the matter to the Principal District and Sessions Judge- cum-Authority, Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement, Hazaribagh invoking Sections 64 & 77(2) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, though the acquisition was made under the provisions of the Act, 1956 and an award was passed by the Arbitrator under Section 3G(5) of the Act, 1956. It is thus evident that the respondent No.5 completely misdirected himself due to which the matter with respect to payment of appropriate compensation for the petitioner’s acquired land as well as structure standing over the same has not yet been paid. Accordingly, this Court holds that the reference particularly for the land in question i.e. Plot No. 142/1 of the said Mouza made vide letter No. 596 dated 09.06.2020 to the Principal District and Sessions Judge-cum-Authority, Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement, Hazaribagh as well as communication made to the concerned beneficiaries by issuing general notice as contained in memo No. 673 dated 22.06.2020 are erroneous and the same cannot sustain in law which are hereby set aside to the extent of the land in question. The respondent No.5 is directed to make fresh computation of the award particularly with respect to the structure in question in terms with the re-measurement/re-valuation report submitted by the NHAI vide letter No. 653 5 dated 07.07.2018. The said exercise shall be completed by the respondent No.5 within six weeks from the date of receipt/production of a copy of this order. The present writ petition is accordingly disposed of with the aforesaid observation and direction. Satish/- (RAJESH SHANKAR, J)