This appeal is filed on behalf of the unsuccessful original petitioners to review the order issued by a Division Bench of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad on February 28, 2020, in WritC No. 7310 of 2020, by which the High Court rejected the appellants’ writ application, holding that the District Magistrate is competent to investigate the legality and validity of the order issued by the Special Land Acquisition Officer.
ACTUAL MATRIX
- In using its authority under Section 3A(1) of Act 1956, the Central Government sent a notification on January 23, 2015, proposing to acquire a few parcels of land in the District of Mau to widen National Highway No. 29 to four lanes. The land with Gat Nos. 158, 160, and 161 of the village Ahirani Bujurg, District Mau (UP), was included in the notification.
- In the previous setting, a further notification was issued under Section 3D of Act 1956, declaring that specific property was for public use. Upon issuance of such a notification, the land becomes the property of the Central Government.
- The competent authority, the Special Land Acquisition Officer, determined the compensation to be paid to the landowners (parties before us) for the acquired land in an award dated November 28, 2016, passed under Section 3G of the Act 1956. The relevant portion of the competent authority’s award is as follows:
Using the stamp rate of Rs. 4,50,00,000.00 as a basis, compensation for the land measuring 3.269 hectares in the village Ahirani Buzurg that was bought comes out to Rs. 14,71,05,000.00, double the amount of which happens to be Rs. 29,42,10,000.00, and compensation for the structure and tree comes out to Rs. 8,01,582.00, totaling Rs. 15,29,06,582.00.
The value of 100% Solatium on this sum is Rs. 30,00,11,582.00. Additional compensation of Rs. 3,16,66,953.00 is payable at a rate of 12% from the day of the last publication of Section 3A on March 6, 2015.
As a result, the total compensation amount is Rs. 63,16,90,117.00, for which I declare the award. By recovering land acquisition expenses of Rs. 6,31,69,021.00 from the Acquiring Authority at a rate of 10% of the total amount of compensation and 100 times the registered values of less land revenue, the amount will be put in the prescribed Account head.
As a result, a notice will arrive at the relevant Tehsil for entry proceedings. While sending one copy of the Award Order to the Indian National Highway Authority in Gorakhpur, it is necessary to write requesting that the entire amount covered by the Award in question be made available.”
The competent authority is required to determine the shares of the landowners in the compensation by the legislative scheme, Section 3H(3) of the Act 1956. In these cases, the competent authority requested a report from the revenue authorities. The revenue authorities reported the appellants’ and respondents’ shares in their report dated 11.04.2019. This report favored appellants. The relevant portion of the provided reads thus:
Khasra No. 1353 mentions Gata No. 213, which has the present number of 232/51 minutes, Gata No. 213 B has the offer number 232/183, and Gata No. 213 is the current code of 232/519. Similarly, Gata No. 233 currently has 214/644 acres and is described as “Bagh Digar”. Furthermore, the present number of Gata No. 208 is 227/1.440 acres, in which “Bagh Digar” is mentioned.
The names of Mahadev Shahi, son of Sitaram Shahi and Bholanath, son of Ganga and Saryu, son of Brijrnohan, Caste Kandu, are found in Khata No. 46 of Copy of Khatauni for the crop year 1348, Ahirani Buzurg, in which Gata No. 232 acres appear, and the name of Mahadev, son of Sitaram Shahi and Bholanath, son of Ganga and Saryu, son of Brijmohan, Caste Kanu, appears in respect of Gata No. 128 for the crop year 1348. Khata No. 92 mentions Gata No. 232/ 0.284 acres and the names of Mahadev, son of Sitaram Shahi, and Bholanath, son of Brij Mohan, Caste Kandu. It refers to Gatas 232/0.539 and 233/0.644, two Gatas totaling 1.163 acres, which is correct. 1348 is the crop year, also known as Jamman 12.
The allocation was based on 12 equal shares in Gata No. 227/1.440 and an equal share of Salum in Gata Nos. 232 min./0.551, 232/0.183, 232/0.539, and 233/1.624. Because the road connects Hashiya Doharighat and Gazipur, the applicant owns a third of Gata Nos. 232 and 233.