HINDUSTHAN O C LTD Vs. DAMODARAN NAMBOODIRI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) About 120 acres of land were acquired under the Land Acquisition Act for the establishment of "Phenol Project", an undertaking of M/s. Hindustan Organic Chemicals Limited. Dissatisfied with the amount awarded by the Land Acquisition Officer, the land owners requested that the matter may be referred to the Civil Court. It was so done. Land Acquisition References were heard by the Second Additional Sub Judge, Ernakulam. L.A.R. Nos. 101 and 119 of 1982, the main cases, were disposed of by a common judgment dated 16-2-1985. This was followed in the other cases. As per the judgments passed by him, enhanced market value was granted to the land owners. So M/s. Hindustan Organic Chemicals Limited (hereinafter referred to as the appellant) filed appeals challenging the enhancement. As this batch of 100 appeals raises common questions for consideration, they can be disposed of together by this common judgment.

(2.) The Land Acquisition Officer classified the lands acquired into six categories. He based his award on Ext. R6 dated 29-9-1978, Ext. R7 dated 9-2-1980, Ext. R3 dated 31-12-1979, Ext. R2 dated 9-4-1980 and Ext. R5 dated 7-7-1979, amongst others. The lower court discussed in detail the evidence relied on by the Awarding Officer as the basis of the award. The learned Sub Judge accepted the evidence of the claimants and awarded enhanced compensation in all the cases. The documents relied on by the Awarding Officer consist of Exts. R6, R.7, R3, R2 and R5. The court below relied on Ext. A4 dated 9-9-1980 (proved by P. W.4), Ext. A3 dated 22-8-1980 (proved by P.W.3), Ext. A2 dated 18-2-1980 (proved by P.W.2), besides some other circumstances which appeared to him to be germane. The details of the award made by the Land Acquisition Officer, the amount awarded by him, as will as the enhancement ordered by the court and the basis thereof are given as Annexure 'A', appended to this judgment.

(3.) For the various acquisitions, there were two sets of notification under S.3 of the Act, notification dated 22-9-1980. and a later notification dated 4-11-1980. The majority of the cases were under the later notification. So also, the awards were passed on different dates, in 198! and in 1982. Possession of the land was taken on different dates. So also, the judgment was delivered by the lower court on different dates. These details mentioning the number of the Land Acquisition Case, L.A.R. relevant thereto in the court, the relevant number of the Land Acquisition Appeal in this court, the date of the notification, the date of the Award, the date of taking possession and the date of judgment of the court below for these 100 cases, are given as Annexure-'B', appended to this judgment.