SINGARANI COLLERIES CO LIMITED Vs. VINOD CHANDRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Special leave is granted

(2.) Heard learned counsel for the parties. There is no dispute that the Notification under Section 4 (1) of the Land Acquisition Act was issued on 9/7/1985 for acquisition of the property in dispute the respondent challenged the validity of acquisition proceedings before the High court under article 226 of the Constitution. A Division bench of the Andhra Pradesh High court directed the land Acquisition Officer to determine compensation payable to the respondents treating 22/6/1987 as the date of notification under Section 4 of the Act. S. 23 of the Act lays down that amount of compensation shall be awarded taking into consideration market value of the land, at the date of publication of the notification under section 4 (1) of the Act. Since the notification under S. 4 (1) was issued on 9/07/1985, no other date could be taken for determining the market value of the land. The High court committed error. We accordingly allow the appeal, set aside the order of the High court and remand the matter to the Appeal bench for disposal of the case on merits. There will be no order as to costs.