MAITHON POWER LIMITED Vs. STATE OF JHARKHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present writ petition has been filed for issuance of direction upon respondents to take steps for identifying the rightful owners of the land acquired for railway line project of the petitioner and for making rectification in the Awards to make payment of consequential compensation to actually affected persons within reasonable time under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (in short "the Act, 1894").

(2.) The factual background of the case as stated in the writ petition is that the petitioner is a Joint Venture entity of the Tata Power Company Limited and Damodar Valley Corporation Limited (DVC) having shares of 74.26 respectively. The petitioner set up a Power Station at Maithon in the District of Dhanbad having generation capacity of 1050 MW situated over an area of 1100 Acres of land out of which 564 acres of land was acquired in favour of DVC. The petitioner is in the process of establishing a dedicated railway line primarily for transporting raw materials i.e coal to its Power Plant. Out of 82 acres of land, which is dedicated for railway corridor, 64 acres of land have been acquired under Land Acquisition proceeding in favour of DVC vide Letter No. 32/08/583 dated 14.07.2008 and remaining 18 acres of land have been transferred by the State Government to DVC being Gair Mazurwa land for the purpose of the said railway corridor. The possession certificate of the land has already been provided in favour of the petitioner through DVC and the petitioner has already deposited a sum of Rs. 18.92 crores through DVC towards payment of compensation to the land owners. The petitioner is in the process of establishment of its railway line and the work is in process, however it is facing objections/hindrances from certain persons on the pretext that they are the real owners of the said land who have not yet been paid compensation. The petitioner has come to know that representations of various persons are kept pending either before the Deputy Commissioner, Dhanbad or before the District Land Acquisition Officer, Dhanbad wherein disputes have been raised for alleged wrongful payment of the amount of compensation to several persons. The said representations have been filed by the affected persons claiming themselves to be the rightful owners of the land in question before the Deputy Commissioner on 04.07.2016 and on 28.07.2016 for taking immediate steps for resolving the disputes. However, the respondents did not take any step in identifying the rightful owners of the land and for taking appropriate steps for rectification of the Award and/or payment of compensation to actually affected persons. The petitioner earlier filed a writ petition being W.P.(C) No. 5084 of 2016, which was disposed of on 06.09.2016 directing the competent authority i.e Deputy Commissioner, Dhanbad to consider the representations of the petitioner with due expedition considering the nature of the project and to take steps in accordance with law after due verification of the related facts. Pursuant to the order dated 06.09.2012, the petitioner filed representation dated 26.09.2016 for taking appropriate action for resolving the dispute whereupon a public notice was issued by the respondent no.3 vide Memo No. 1161 dated 111.2016 inviting claims for payment of compensation in respect of various plots of land of village Pandra, which were acquired in favour of the petitioner. Subsequently, several rightful claimants have been identified however the dispute still subsists due to which the project of the petitioner is being delayed.

(3.) The learned counsel for the petitioner submits that in spite of the fact that the petitioner has deposited the compensation amount for the acquired land and a possession certificate has also been issued, the project of the petitioner for construction of a railway line is being delayed due to the fact that the compensation were paid to wrong persons on the basis of forged documents. It is further submitted that a verification report has been submitted by the Sub-Divisional Officer, Dhanbad before the respondent no. 3 identifying the actual persons to whom compensation were to be paid pursuant to the land acquisition and even recommendation has been made for recovery of compensation paid to fictitious persons and/or the persons who have impersonated and have received compensation instead of the actual land losers. The report of the Sub-Divisional Officer, Dhanbad would clearly reveal that several persons have received compensation without any entitlement, however till date no step has been taken by the respondents for correction of the award due to which the petitioners project is in jeopardy. It is also submitted that the representations filed by the villagers would indicate that several awardees whose names were included in the Award, were not the rightful owners of the land and the compensation have been paid to wrong persons on the basis of forged documents. The District Administration has also lodged FIR against several persons, but no any step has been taken to rectify the Award so as to make payment of compensation amount to the rightful owners. Due to the dispute regarding payment of compensation in lieu of the acquired land, the petitioner is facing hindrances put by the villagers. The railway line project of the petitioner is one of its essential requirements for effective and smooth running of the power plant and also for its further expansion. In absence of a dedicated railway line for transporting/meeting the coal requirement, which is one of the most essential raw materials for the petitioner, the whole project would be adversely affected.