Land Acquisition Act, 1894 – Compensation – Parity sought with co-villagers – Delay of 13 years in filing of the first appeals – Condonation:
Held: Appellants are entitled to seek parity with their co-villagers in the grant of compensation for their acquired land – The inordinate delay in filing appeal in compensatory matters, per se, may not be fatal as the rights and equities between the parties can be well balanced by denying the statutory benefits, such as interest for the delayed period – Thus, the delay in filing the first appeal(s) could be condoned subject to the condition that the appellants would not be entitled to enure undue benefit for the delayed period – Such indulgence is being granted in the appellant’s favour also because a batch of first appeals at the instance of other land owners was still pending consideration before the High Court – The delay of nearly 13 years in filing of their first appeals is being condoned, only to accord parity between the similarly placed land-owners on the anvil of Article 14 – If the appellants are granted compensation higher than their co-landowners, despite the fact that such counterparts were vigilant in pursuing their remedy promptly, it will lead to hostile discrimination viz those landowners whose fate already stands sealed upto this Court and will amount to granting premium on stale, belated and chance claim of the appellants – Appellants entitled to compensation @ Rs.150 per sq. yard for their respective acquired land – However, the compensation amount shall not include statutory interest, including on solatium, as per the rate prescribed u/s.34 of the Act for the period from the date of passing of the award by the Reference Court u/s.18 of the Act till the filing of the respective first appeals before the High Court – Constitution of India – Article 14.[Paras 12-14 and 15] LIST OF CITATIONS AND OTHER REFERENCES
Jitendra and others vs. State of Uttar Pradesh and another C.A. No.12631/2017 – referred to.
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As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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