NALINI BORDOLOI Vs. DISTRICT COLLECTOR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal by the owners of the land acquired under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (in short, the Act is against the common judgment and order dated 11 -4-2005 passed by the learned Reference Court dismissing the land Acquisition (Miscellaneous) Cases which were registered on the basis of the reference made by the Collector u/s. 18 of the Act. The present appeal is concerning l. A. (Misc.) Case Nos. 54/97, 56/97, 60/ 97, 63/97, 66/97, 70/97 and 76/97.

(2.) AN acquisition proceeding was initiated by issuing a notification u/s. 4 (1) of the Act by the Government of Assam in Revenue Department in the Official Gazette on 9-6-82 intending to acquire a plot of land measuring 61 Bigha 0 Katha 9 Lecha in village Bahatia under Saruchari Mouza of jorhat Sub-Division of erstwhile Sibsagar district (now, Jorhat District) for construction of a bye-pass of the National Highway no. 37 by registering LA Case No. 5/81-82. the declaration under Section 6 of the Act was thereafter made in the Official Gazette on 8-6-2003. The Collector on 2-11-1985 passed the award u/s. 11 of the Act, computing the value of the land at three different rates per Bigha i. e. Rs. 8316/- for agricultural land, Rs. 7568/- for homestead/ bari land, Rs. 7188/- for Tokola Bari land and Rs. 7188/- for Garingati land, which was approved by the Government on 27-2-1986. The land acquired includes the land covered by various Periodic Patta Nos. 187, 196 and 469 measuring 4 Bighas 1 Katha 11 lessas belonging to appellant No. 1/la (Misc.) Case No. 54/97; 0 Bigha 3 Kathas 18 Lessas covered by PP No. 49 belonging to appellant No. 2 (LA (Misc.) Case No. 70/ 97); 2 Bighas 3 kathas 16 Lessas covered by P. Patta No. 105 belonging to appellant no. 3 (LA (Misc.) Case No. 63/97); 1 Bigha 3 kathas 7 Lessas in PP No. 346 and 362 belonging to appellant Nos. 10 to 12/la (Misc.)Case No. 60/97 and 66/97); 1 Bigha 0 Katha 18 Lessas in PP No. 345 belonging to appellant Nos. 13 to 15 (LA (Misc. Z) Case No. 56/ 97) and 1 Bigha 3 Kathas 9 Lessas in PP no. 189/ (LA (Misc.) Case No. 70/97 ). The appellants and others being not satisfied with the quantum of compensation awarded by the Collector filed application u/s. 18 of the Act. The Collector accordingly referred the dispute relating to the quantum of compensation payable in respect of the acquired land to the Court, on the basis of which various LA (Misc.) Cases were registered including the aforesaid LA (Misc.) Cases, which are concerned in the present appeal. Before the learned Reference Court the appellants claimants in their respective LA (Misc.) Cases examined one witness each. However, no sale deed of comparable land in support of their claim for Rs. 20,000/- per Katha (Rs. 1 lakh per Bigha) for the acquired land was produced and proved. The learned Reference court thereafter by the aforesaid judgment and order dismissed the LA (Misc.) Cases on the ground that the appellants and other claimants could not produce any evidence to substantiate their claim that the award passed by the learned Collector in their respective cases is improper, unjust and inadequate being not based on the market value of the land acquired, though the burden is on them to establish by adducing reliable evidence that the value assessed was less than the market value of the acquired land as on 9-6-82 i. e. the date of publication of the notification u/s. 4 (1) of the Act in the Gazette.

(3.) WE have heard Mr. D. C. Mahanta, learned senior counsel for the appellants as well as Mr. Pradip Sen Deka, learned State counsel appearing on behalf of the respondents.