LALITKUMAR HIMMATLAL SHAH Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Whether a person would be entitled to grant of interest under Section 34 of the Land Acquisition Act from the date of his dispossession if the dispossession is prior to the issuance of Section 4 notification and if not what would be the relevant date for claiming interest is the question that arises for consideration in these writ petitions. Since a common issue is involved in these writ petitions, they are heard together and are decided by this common judgment. Rule. Rule is made returnable forthwith. Heard finally by the consent of the parties.

(2.) The relevant facts for deciding the issue involved in these petitions are brief. The possession of land belonging to each of the petitioners was acquired by the State of Maharashtra for the purpose of construction of flood prevention wall on 15.01.1997. The Section 4 notification was issued on 20.01.2005 and the award was passed by the Land Acquisition Officer on 05.02.2008. The compensation was determined under the provisions of Section 23 of the Act. The petitioners were also granted 8% rental compensation in pursuance of the government resolutions issued from time to time as the lands were acquired before the issuance of the Section 4 notification.. Since the petitioners were not granted interest on the compensation under the provisions of Section 34 of the Land Acquisition Act, the petitioners have filed the present petitions.

(3.) It was the case of the petitioners that in view of the provisions of Section 34 of the Land Acquisition Act, it was necessary for the Land Acquisition Officer to have granted interest under Section 34 of the Act to the petitioners from the date of dispossession and the Land Acquisition Officer has committed a serious error in not granting the same. The learned Counsel for the petitioners relied on the judgment in the case of Jafarali Mithabhai Hirani and others .v. State of Maharashtra and others, 2009 3 AllMR 779, wherein, in similar set of facts, this Court had granted interest on the compensation under Section 34 of the Act from the date of dispossession.