BOLLEDDULA PEDA KOTAIAH Vs. DIST COLLECTOR GUNTUR DIST

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS writ petition seeks a direction to the second respondent to pass an award and pay compensation for the lands of the petitioner, which have been acquired for a link channel. The grievance of the petitioner is that even though Section 4(1) notification was published on 30-4-1988 and the lands had been taken possession, no compensation had been paid. The defence of the Land Acquisition Officer is that a period of two years had elapsed and according to Section 11-A of the Act, the acquisition itself has to be reinitiated. That was the purport of the letter, dated 6-8-1994 by the Revenue Divisional Officer written to the advocate of the petitioner stating that he had requested the Executive Engineer, O and M Division, Macherla to file a fresh requisition depositing the necessary funds, so that the land acquisition proceedings could be taken up afresh. The learned Counsel for the petitioner submitted that according to the decision of the Supreme Court in A.B. Yadav vs. State of Bihar the question of the acquisition proceedings getting lapsed will not arise where possession has been taken fora public purpose. He relied on the decisions of this Courtin Zeba Begum vs. Administrator; and Chandrabhangiriji vs. State of Andhra Pradesh, where it was held that if the proceedings are not completed beyond two years, compensation has to be worked out on the basis of the market value as on the date of passing of the award. The learned Government Pleader took time for filing counter and for producing the records as early as January, 1996, but counter is filed and the records have not been produced. I take it, therefore, the the letter dated 6-8-1994 written by the Revenue Divisional Officer represent the correct situation. THIS letter of course, does not represent the correct legal position. As held by the Supreme Court and this Court, Land Acquisition proceedings cannot be taken to have lapsed and the Revenue Divisional Officer was bound to proceed with the land acquisition proceedings and pass an award determining the compensation with reference to the market value as on a date subsequent to the notification taking into consideration the delay in paying the compensation. In view of this position, I direct the Land Acquisition Officer to complete the land acquisition proceedings by passing an award and determining the market value as on 30-4-1996 since the notification was made on 30-4-1988 and no compensation has been paid till now. I also direct the Executive Engineer, O and M Division, Macherla to obtain the compensation amount required and deposit the same before 31-5-1996. The Land Acquisition Officer shall pass the award before 30-6-1996 and pay compensation to the petitioner. With these directions, the writ petition is disposed of. No Costs.