PARADEEP PHOSPHATES LIMITED Vs. LAND ACQUISITION COLLECTOR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The State Government acquired some lands belonging to different persons in mouza Chauliapalanda for construction of Paradeep Phosphates Ltd. and compensation was awarded at the rate of Rs. 12,500/- per acre. Not being satisfied with the valuation of the property, claims were raised for higher compensation and the Land Acquisition Collector, Jagatsinghpur, referred the claims under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act ('the Act', for short) for fixation of fair amount of compensation in respect of the lands acquired belonging to several persons. These reference gave rise to 25 land acquisition cases which were tried and disposed of by the learned Civil Judge (Senior Division), Jagatsinghpur, and compensation was fixed at the rate of Rs. 50,000/- per acre. Challenging the said award made by the learned Civil Judge (Senior Division), Jagatsinghpur, in all the 25 cases, the present First Appeals have been filed by Paradeep Phosphates Limited.

(2.) It appears from the records that 1,260.15 acres of land were proposed to be acquired in mouza Chauliagalanda, P. S. Tirtol, Tahsil Kujang in the district of Cuttack (now Jagatsinghpur). Government notification under Section 4(1) read with Section 17(4) of the Act were issued by the Revenue Department vide Notification No. 49561/R dated 30-7-82 and No. 49562/R dated 30-7-82 and the said Notifications were published in the Extraordinary issue of Orissa Gazette No. 1188 dated 10-8-82. Out of the lands proposed to be acquired 1,021.07 acres belonged to private persons and 239.08 acres were recorded as Anabadi. While evaluating the market value of the said land it was observed that the lands proposed to be acquired were originally recorded as Sarada, Patita (new and old), Kulakhi, Huda, Panabaraji, jungle, homestead, tank and Paninala Kisam in the current settlement records. Twenty-four sale deeds were also considered and those sale deeds were of the years 1981 and 1982. Considering the prices at which those lands were sold under the said registered sale deeds as well as the nature of the land, the market price of the land was valued at Rs. 12,500/- per acre.

(3.) Applications were filed under Section 18 of the Act before the Land Acquisition Collector claiming higher a compensation on the following grounds :(1) The acquired land is adjacent to Paradeep Port and the declared village comes under Paradeep Port Trust.(2) The land acquired is adjacent to railway station, Paradeep Port and the bus-stand.(3) The land acquired is very close to Paradeep Industrial Estate, Express Highway, National Highway, Paradeep College, Hospital, School, Police Station, Government Offices and Business Centres.(4) There is availability of communication, electricity and water supply.(5) Productivity of the acquired land was too high and two crops were being raised per annum.(6) There is great demand for the acquired land due to Paradeep Port, industrialisation, etc.(7) Paradeep Port Trust is letting sale lands on lease basis at the rate of Rs. 2 lakhs per acre and those lands are inferior than the lands acquired. (8) The market price of the land in the adjacent villages of the acquired land is too high and increasing rapidly.(9) The potentiality of the land has not been taken into consideration.On these grounds compensation at the rate of Rs. 1 lakh per acre was claimed.