EXECUTIVE ENGINEER Vs. R. PARTHASARATHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The lightening speed in which the officials have acted in getting approval under Section 11 (1) of the Land Acquisition Act and passing the award on the very same day definitely needs to be appreciated.

(2.) Here is a peculiar case in which this Court could not find bureaucratic Red-tapism. The Tahsildar wrote to the District Revenue Officer on 01.07.1998 seeking prior approval under Section 11(1) of the Land Acquisition Act for acquiring the properties which are the subject matter of this appeal and the said District Revenue Officer responded very quickly and granted approval on the very same day i.e., on 01.07.1998. The approval is rapidly transmitted to the Land Acquisition Officer viz., Tahsildar on 01.07.1998 and further, the award was passed on 01.07.1998 itself like a shot. For the aforesaid actions, normally in a Government office it would take months together and sometimes years together also. However, very curiously and interestingly, in this case approval is stated to have been obtained and award had been passed on the same date.

(3.) Furthermore shocking and surprising fact is that the award amount was deposited by the Housing Board one year prior to the passing of the award viz., 13.05.1997. It is not known as to how the Housing Board authorities assumed and presumed the quantification of the amount in May 1997 itself as per award which was passed only on 01.07.1998. These are all the facts which definitely make the entire exercise, allegedly undertaken by the authorities, a very suspicious one.