The
State of West Bengal Vs. Lohit Kumar Roy [1996] INSC 849
(24 July 1996)
Ramaswamy,
K. Ramaswamy, K.G.B. Pattanaik (J)
CITATION:
1996 SCALE (5)543
ACT:
HEAD NOTE:
O R D
E R
Notification
under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 [for short, the
"Act"] initially was published on May 25, 1956 acquiring a huge extent of 985.95 acres of land for
industrial purpose in Durgapur. It would appear that subsequently
the notification got lapsed. Consequently, the second notification came to be
published on August 10,
1964.
The
Land Acquisition Officer determined the compensation @ Rs.2,310/- per acre. In
this case, we are concerned with the extent of the lands in 5 plots Sri in
survey Nos.710, 735, 762, 824 and 912 of an extent of 0.33, 0.11, 0.63, 0.13
and 0.49 acres respectively. The reference Court enhanced the compensation Rs.1,45,000/-
per acre relying upon Ext. 1(d) dated April 24, 1964. It is settled law that the similar
lands were of large extent involved for acquisition and or evidence relied upon,
even the High Court has doubted the genuineness of this document. It is scated
by the learned counsel for the appellant that this document came to be executed
between the parties who are claiming higher compensation. It would be obvious
that after the first notification was issued and before the second notification
came to be published this document was brought into existence to inflate the
market value. Under these circumstances, the High Court in another case was
well justified in doubting the correctness of it. Unfortunately, except that
document, there is no other evidence for enhancement of the compensation. But
in view of the fact that large extent of the lands are involved and we do not
have the advantage of any other evidence or assistance from respondents, we are
not inclined to confirm the award of the Collector. under these circumstances,
we set aside the award or the Court and the High Court and remit the matter to
the reference Court to decide the compensation afresh on the basis of the evidence
vis-a-vis any other reference pending before it having similar facts and decide
the matter according to law.
The
appeal is accordingly allowed, but, in the circumstances, without costs.
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