RAJA RAM Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioners, Raja Ram and 85 others, hailing from villages Saran, Dabur and Gazipur of district Faridabad, Haryana, have filed this petition under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution of India seeking directions to be issued to the Deputy Commissioner, Faridabad so as not to deduct income-tax in lump sum from the compensation of land paid to them in lieu of the land acquired under Land Acquisition Act with further directions to the respondents to refund the same along with interest.

(2.) Brief facts, that deserve immediate notice are that a notification dated 17.10.1967 published in the Haryana Government Gazette under Section 36(2) of the Defence of India Act, 1962 was issued so as to acquire the land measuring 1495 kanals and 3 marlas by the Central Government located in villages Saran, Dabur and Gazipur, district Faridabad. The possession of this land was taken from the petitioners in the year 1964. Even though the possession of the land was taken in the year 1964, no compensation was paid to the land owners for all these years as no award could be given by the competent authority. It is only in the year 1984 that an Arbitrator was appointed under the Act who announced his award on May 3, 1984 fixing the price of the land to be at Rs. 15/- per sq. yard. Still the compensation as such was not paid and ultimately the landowners inclusive of the petitioners, approached this Court so as to get a direction issued to the respondents to pay them the compensation so assessed by the Arbitrator. Writ Petitions No. 3391 of 1985 (Bal Krishan Sharma and others) 3327 of 1985 (Balak Ram and others); 1860 of 1985 (Amar Singh and others) and 3355 of 1985 came up of ultimate decision before a Division Bench of this Court and the main -judgment was rendered in CWP No. 1860 of 1985 and a direction was issued to the respondents to pay the petitioners compensation awarded along with solatium and interest.

(3.) The orders aforesaid were passed on 1.4.1986. It is pleaded that thereafter the Central Government had put the amount involved at the disposal of the Deputy Commissioner concerned, but the Deputy Commissioner instead of paying the compensation to the landowners, used the amount towards the Small Savings etc. and it is ultimately on various dates in 1989 that the petitioners were able to get the compensation of their lands which were acquired way back in the year 1964. The Deputy Commissioner, however, while disbursing the payment, deducted the lump sum income-tax and surcharge from the petitioners to the tune of Rs. 3,97,523.84 with the following details :-