LEELA BHAGWANSINGH ADVANI Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The above Notice of Motion has been filed by the original petitioners in the above Writ Petition No. 1855 of 2001. The cause for filing the above notice of motion is that the petitioners have not been paid interest on solatium whilst making the payment of compensation to them for the subject lands, which were the subject-matter of acquisition for the Defence and in respect ot which an Award was passed on 30-5-1995.

(2.) To appreciate the controversy, it would be relevant to set out few facts which according to us, are necessary to be cited. The subject lands were occupied by the Defence authorities from 1942 onwards for defence purposes and were used as such, during the course of Second World War. Upon persistent request of the petitioners, an Award came to be ultimately passed on 30-5-1995. However, in spite of the passing of the said Award and despite protracted correspondence between the parties, the compensation was not paid to the petitioners and ultimately, a notice came to be issued to the petitioners that the authorities intended to withdraw from acquisition. The said notice came to be challenged by the petitioners by way of the above writ petition, which was finally heard and disposed of by us by judgment and order dated 17-6-2009. In the context of the issue raised in the above Notice of Motion, it would be relevant to extract the operative part of the said judgment, which reads as under :

(3.) The matter was thereafter, carried to the Apex Court by way of S.L.P. No. 23536 of 2009, which came to be dismissed in limine by the Apex Court on 5-10-2009. Thereafter, in view of the procrastination on the part of the authorities to comply with the said judgment and order, in spite of the SLP being dismissed, the petitioners were constrained to file two Contempt petitions, one of which was pending when the S.L.P. was filed and one of which being (L) No. 26 of 2010, which was filed sometime in April, 2010. It is in the course of hearing of the said contempt petition, that the payment of compensation was sought to be made to the petitioners. The said compensation amounted to Rs. 64,81,72,626/-. The said compensation was offered in the said Contempt petition on 28th April, 2010. Cheques have been accepted by the petitioners under protest subject to their right to claim appropriate compensation as per their entitlement in law.