VENKATAMMA Vs. SPECIAL LAND ACQUISITION OFFICER CITE MYSORE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The question of law referred to the Full Bench in all the above cases is as follows:

(2.) The undisputed facts in all these cases are thus: That all the buildings and lards acquired in these cases are situate in Devaraj Mohalla, Mysore City, in an area of commercial importance. These buildings and lands were acquired under the provisions of the City of Mysore Improvement Act, 1903 (Mysore Act III of 1903) (hereinafter referred to as the Act) for purposes of formation of a straight road from the Statue Square to the District Office in Mysore City. In all these cases the notification under S.16 of the Act was issued in the year 1945 and the notification under S.18 of that Act was issued in the year 1959. The possession of the lands and buildings in question were however taken from the claimants on subsequent dates. There was therefore an interval of over fourteen years between the date of the notification under S.16 and the date of the notification under S.18 of the Act and an interval of nearly twenty years between the date of the notification under S.16 of the Act and the date of taking possession of the properties. The market value of the properties rose steeply from the year 1945 onwards. Some of the persons whose properties were acquired under the aforesaid notifications filed writ petitions before this Court questioning the validity of the notifications in WP.257 of 1965 and connected cases. One of the grounds raised in those writ petitions was that the acquisition of the properties nearly fifteen to twenty years after the issue of notification under S.16 of the Act was illegal and if the notifications acquiring the property were held to be legal, then the compensation should be awarded to the claimants on the basis of the market value of the properties on the date on which the notification under S.18 of the Act was issued. In those writ petitions, the validity of the notifications was upheld. But with regard to the question of compensation, this Court observed in its ojrder dt. October 14, 1966, as follows :

(3.) Thereafter the references made to the Court for determination of compensation payable to the owners of the acquired properties were disposed of by the Civil Judge, Mysore, awarding compensation for the lands and buildings which formed the subject matter of the above appeals on the basis of their market value as on the date of the notification under S.16 the Act. In other words, even though the notification under S.18 was issued in 1959 and possession of the properties was taken some years thereafter, the claimants were awarded compensation for the acquired properties on the basis oi their market value in the year 1945. Aggrieved by the orders passed by the learned Civil Judge, the claimants filed the above appeals before this Court. When the appeals came up before a Division Bench of this Court, it was contended on behalf of the claimants that the lower Court had committed an error in adopting the market value of the properties as on the date 01 the notification under S.16 of the Act, as the basis for awarding compensation. On behalf of the Special Land Acquisition Officer, City Improvement Trust Board, Mysore, it was contended that in several cases decided by this Court including MFA. 234 of 1969 it had been held that the relevant date for purpose of awarding compensation was the date of the notification under S.16 of the Act and therefore the basis adopted by the lower Court was right. The Division Bench after hearing the parties was of the opinion that although this Court had decided some cases on the basis of the market value of the properties as on the date of the notification under S.16, in those cases the question had not been raised in the present form. The Division Bench was also of the opinion that there was no compelling reason to accept the said view. Hence, the Division Bench under S.7(1) of the Mysore High Court Act, 1961, referred the above question of law to a Full Bench of this Court for its opinion.