SUSHILA DEVI Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These twenty-seven appeals arise out of one judgment of the Third Additional District Judge, Patna, governing 26 land acquisition cases referred to the District Judge of Patna under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act. The State of Bihar has preferred 26 appeals, one in respect of each case and First Appeal No. 399 has been preferred by the claimants-respondents of First Appeal No. 433 preferred by the State. The total area of land acquired in the proceeding in which these references were made was 20.43 acres made up of contiguous plots of land situated in three villages. The acquisition was made at the request of the Postal Department for construction of a colony for the postal employees. The notification under Section 4 of the Act was published on the 2nd February, 1955. The Collector's award was made on the 30th July, 1956, and possession of the Area was taken by the Collector on the 29th September, 1956. The Collector allowed compensation of land at the rate of Rs. 6400/- per acre or Rs. 200/- per katha besides the additional statutory compensation at 15 per cent. The case of the claimants in the lower Court was that the compensation allowed in the Collector's award was too low, and the market value of the land was at least Rs. 1000/-per katha. They also pleaded that all the acquired plots of land had potential value as the area was fast developing, and these plots of land provided excellent sites for constructing houses. On the other hand, it was contended on behalf of the State that the compensation awarded by the Collector was sufficient and in certain cases the applicants were debarred under Section 25 of the Act from making any higher claim on the ground that they had not made any claim after service of notices under Section 9 of the Act. The learned Additional District Judge assessed the market value in February 1955 for the land acquired at Rs. 600/-per katha; and he rejected the plea based on Section 25.

(2.) There was a special claim for compensation lot severance in respect of plot No. 32 in Land Acquisition Case No. 176, corresponding to First Appeal No. 399 in this case, the whole of plot No. 40 and 50 acre out of 54 acre of plot No. 32 were acquired. In the remaining area of .04 acre of plot No. 32, there were admittedly some garages and four rooms before the service of notice under Section 4 of the Act to be used as the out-houses when the main building would be constructed and this area was excluded from acquisition. As the land on all the sides of the outhouses had been acquired and the claimant could not make any use of the outhouses, the claimant claimed Rs. 20,000/-as compensation for severance; but the learned Judge allowed only a sum of Rs. 1,000/-, as the cost of removing the materials and depreciation in value of materials. in this judgment, it is ,not necessary to go into the question of the compensation for severance in respect of .04 acre of plot No. 32, because Mr. K.D. Chatterji, who appeared on behalf of the State, informed this Court that the State had decided to leave out the entire plot from the acquisition and, therefore, no compensation for any portion of this plot should be allowed; and, the amount of compensation withdrawn must be refunded by the claimants. The learned Advocate for the appellants in First Appeal No. 399 agreed to these terms. With the consent of the parties, therefore, it is ordered that the whole of plot no. 32 shall be released from acquisition; and the appellants shall refund the amount of compensation withdrawn by them; and the Collector or the Postal Department shall make over possession to the claimants within two weeks of the refund of the compensation money in respect of plot No. 32.

(3.) First Appeal No. 433 by the State of Bihar relates to the same land as is covered by First Appeal No. 399 of 1958. These two appeals arise out of Land Acquisition case No. 176 of 1957, and the claimants are Basudeo Lal Agarwal and his wife Shushila Devi. In the award of the learned Additional District Judge, there is a mistake inasmuch as no amount has been mentioned against the amount of compensation for trees, while the Collector's award shows a sum of Rs. 1092/- against this item. This amount will be inserted in the award of the learned Additional District Judge, but the amount of Rs. 1,000/- as compensation for the loss suffered on account of severance of the construction in plot No. 32 must be deducted in view of the aforesaid consent order.