NABEESA PACHEERI Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The short question that arises for consideration in this Writ Petition is whether the District Collector should grant interest under Sec. 34 of the Land Acquisition Act (for short 'the Act') when he redetermines the compensation under Sec. 28A of the Act. An extent of 0.1804 hectors of land comprised in Sy.No.12/18 was acquired to form Perinthalmanna-Manathmangalam-Kakkooth bye-pass-II road.

(2.) The original owner passed away and the petitioners herein are the legal heirs. The amount was deposited before the Sub Court, Manjeri and the petitioners received the same as per award in L.A.R.No.1 of 2011 dtd. 22/12/2011. The petitioners could not file an application under sec. 18 of the Act. Hence they filed an application under Sec. 28A of the Act on 22/11/2013 before the 2nd respondent. The 2nd respondent passed an award on 1/12/2016 for an amount of Rs.13,82,636.04. The counsel for the petitioners submits that while passing the award Ext.P3, the Land Acquisition Officer has not awarded the statutory interest to the petitioners. He further submits that the petitioners are entitled to all statutory benefits which were granted in Ext.P2.

(3.) Sec. 28A of the Act is Re-determination of the amount of compensation on the basis of the award of the Court. Sec. 28A of the Act is in the nature of a beneficent provision intended to remove inequality and to give relief to the inarticulate and poor people who are not able to take advantage of the right of reference to the Civil court under Sec. 18 of the Act. The question whether the Collector can award interest on the compensation redetermined came up for consideration before the Hon'ble Apex Court in Union of India and another v. Pradeep Kumari and others [1995(2) SCC 736]. After considering Ss. 28 and 34 of the Act, the Apex court declared that the Collector is bound to award interest under Sec. 34 of the Act on the excess amount declared under Sec. 28A of the Act. Relying on the said decision, this court in Kallianikutty Amma v. The Special Tahsildar (LA) [2003(1) KLT 1014] held that the Collector ought to have granted interest under Sec. 34 of the Act on the enhanced amount awarded on redetermination of compensation under Sec. 28A of the Act.