BALAJI K. Vs. KARNATAKA INDUSTRIAL AREA DEVELOPMENT BOARD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners in the present petition have sought for issuance of writ of certiorari to quash the General Award at Annexures-'G' and 'G1' dtd. 11/9/2018. Further, the petitioners have sought for appropriate direction to enable them to accept the Package compensation offered by Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL)/Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) as per Annexures- 'A' and 'A1' under Sec. 29(2) of the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Act, 1966 ('KIAD Act' for brevity) alongwith the accrued interest. The petitioners have also sought for necessary direction to the respondents to deposit the balance amount in terms of Package compensation under Sec. 29(2) of KIAD Act before the Reference Court. The petitioners have further sought for a direction that in the event, the petitioners succeed in the reference proceedings, i.e. in LAC No.67/2022 and LAC No. 126/ 2022 before the Reference Court, the petitioners would be entitled to the Package compensation that is to be deposited alongwith accrued interest. The petitioners have also sought for refund of entire TDS amount deducted by providing the benefit under Sec. 96 of the New Act, 2023 (The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013) with a further direction to the respondents not to deduct any amount in respect of balance compensation package fixed by BMRCL/KIADB.

(2.) The petitioners are stated to be the owners of the land bearing Survey No.87 of Kothanur Village, Bangalore South Taluk. The petitioners state that the land in Survey No.87 was proposed to be acquired by KIADB for the construction of Kothanur DEPO 2nd Stage Bangalore Metro Rail Project. The Preliminary Notification under Sec. 28(1) and Final Notification under Sec. 28(4) of KIAD Act were issued notifying the Schedule Property.

(3.) It is submitted that suo motu proceedings were initiated under Rule 108-K of the Karnataka Land Revenue Rules, 1966 in LND RA(S) 18/16-17 in order to cancel the grant made and delete the names of the owners of the land from the revenue records, which though came to be allowed on 26/5/2017, the same came to be challenged in W.P.No.26244/2017 c/w W.P.No. 25877/2017 filed by the other land owners. The said Writ Petitions came to be allowed and the orders of Assistant Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner came to be set aside by order dtd. 7/2/2022. The Court while disposing of the said Writ Petitions had directed the Special Land Acquisition Officer, KIADB to refer the dispute under Ss. 30 and 31 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. Subsequently, it is borne out from the facts that the Special Land Acquisition Officer-2, Metro, KIADB has filed Reference vide LAC No.67/2022 in respect of Schedule 'A' property and LAC No.126/2022 in respect of Schedule 'B' property, which are pending before the City Civil Court, Bangalore (CCH-17).