SHEELA NAGUESH NAIK Vs. RAJENDRA GUNA RAMCHANDRA PETKAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this Appeal, the Legal representatives of original interested party no.1 have challenged judgment and order dtd. 6/2/2009, passed by the District and Sessions Court, South Goa, Margao, in Land Acquisition Case No. 57 of 2006. By the said Judgment and Award, the aforesaid Court held that interested party no.1 i.e. the Predecessor of the Appellants and interested party no.2 i.e. the Predecessor of Respondent nos. 1 and 2 herein, were the only two interested parties entitled to share in the compensation for acquisition of land. According to the Appellants, the interested party no.1 alone ought to have been granted the entire compensation.

(2.) The facts in brief leading to filing of the present Appeal are that land acquisition proceedings were initiated in respect of land situated in Survey no. 92/2 in Canacona, for construction of road. By award dtd. 9/12/2004, the Land Acquisition Officer awarded compensation of Rs.26,978.00 for the acquired land. Since there was a dispute amongst the interested parties as regards entitlement to the said compensation, the Land Acquisition Officer forwarded a reference to the Court below under Sec. 30 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, for resolving the dispute and for ascertaining the apportionment of compensation amongst the disputing interested parties.

(3.) Before the Court below, there were five interested parties seeking a share in the compensation. It is an admitted position that party no.4 was also the party no.1. So effectively, there were four parties before the Court below seeking a share in the compensation. It is undisputed that the real contest before the Court below was between the party no.1 and party no.2, as these were the only parties who led oral and documentary evidence in support of their respective claims.