INDIAN RARE EARTHS LIMITED Vs. SUB COLLECTOR LAND ACQUISITION OFFICER PADMANABHAPURAM THUCKALAY KANYAKUMARI DISTRICT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These Writ Petitions and Writ Appeals have been filed by Messrs. Indian Rare Earths Limited, a company wholly owned by the Government of India, for seeking reliefs in the awards passed by the Subordinate Judge of Padmanabha-puram in references made to him under S.18 of the Land Acquisition Act. The writ petitions have been filed for issue of Writ of certiorari to quash the. awards passed by the Subordinate Judge in forty-nine original petitions taken on file under S-18 of the Land Acquisition Act (hereinafter referred to as the Act.) The writ appeals have been filed against the orders passed by a learned single Judge of this Court in twelve cases vacating earlier orders of stay relating to deposit of enhanced compensation amounts.

(2.) The writ petitions and the writ appeals have come to be filed in the following circumstances: The petitioner company is a public limited company incorporated under the Indian Companies Act, 1913 and wholly owned by the Government of India, Its main objects are to process beach raw sands for producing rare minerals like limenite, monazite, zireon, rutile, sillimanite, etc. required for the purposes of atomic energy. The raw sands have to be obtained from deposits from inland and coastal beaches. After obtaining technical advice, certain strips of land in villages like Manavalakurchi and Kolachal were identified near the sea-coast of Kanyakumari District as the area where the required quantities of rare earths are likely to be found for large scale exploitation. The extent of land that was identified is 60.05 acres. The lands were in the possession of several individuals. For acquiring the lands, the petitioner requested the State Government to take acquisition proceedings under Part II of the Land Acquisition Act. The State Government, which was empowered by the Government of India to take the acquisition proceedings on its behalf, agreed to acquire the lands and issued a notification according sanction for acquisition under Part II of the Act by contributing a token sum from the public revenue. A notification under S.4 (1) of the Act was published in the Government Gazette. As the lands were urgently required for exploitation of the minerals, the State Government conceded the need for expediency and exercised its powers under S.17 and dispensed with the provisions of S.5-A of the Act. As a result of such dispensation, the petitioner took possession of the lands on two dates, viz., 21st July, 1979 and 14th November, 1981.

(3.) The Land Acquisition Officer, after taking into consideration all the relevant factors computed the market value of the lands at certain rates and fixed the total amount payable to the several owners of the lands as well as solatium of 15 per cent and also the compensation amount that should be paid for trees, etc. The petitioner, in compliance with the awards passed by the Land Acquisition Officer, remitted the compensation amounts together with the solatium etc., payable to each land owner.