Land Acquisition Act, 1894 – ss. 11 and 13A – Review of award – Land of appellants was acquired – An award dated 01.10.2003 was passed by the Land Acquisition Collector awarding compensation of Rs.1,97,08,397/- in favour of the appellants – Then on dated 14.07.2004, a review award was passed by the Land Acquisition Collector, reducing the amount of compensation by Rs.49,39,195/- on the ground that the compensation ought not to have been awarded in respect of alleged illegal structures on the land, which had wrongly been awarded by the award dated 01.10.2003 – Propriety of – Held: Not proper – There is no provision under the L.A. Act for review of the award once passed u/s.11 of the Act and had attained finality – The only provision is for correction of clerical errors in the award, provided u/s.13A – In the instant case, the compensation for structure on the land was deducted from the award dated 01.10.2003 by the review award dated 14.07.2004 on the ground of the same being illegal structure, which actually amounted to review of the award and cannot be said to be a correction of any clerical or arithmetical mistake – The question whether the structure on the land of the appellants was legal or illegal could only be decided after parties were given opportunity to adduce evidence, which correction cannot be termed as correction of any clerical or arithmetical mistake – Thus, review of the award cannot be justified in law.
Review – Express power of – Held: It is settled law that the power of Review can be exercised only when the statute provides for the same – In the absence of any such provision in the concerned statute, such power of Review cannot be exercised by the authority concerned.
Allowing the appeals, the Court
HELD: 1. The Review Award could not have been passed under Section 13A of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, which is meant only for correction of any clerical or arithmetical mistake. There is no other provision in the Act under which the said order dated 14.07.2004 could have been passed. [Para 9] [1048-C]
2. In the present case, the compensation for the structure on the land has been deducted from the Award dated 01.10.2003 by the Review Award dated 14.07.2004 on the ground of the same being illegal structure, which actually amounts to Review of the Award and cannot be said to be a correction of any clerical or arithmetical mistake. The question whether the structure on the land of the appellants was legal or illegal could only be decided after the parties were given opportunity to adduce evidence, which correction cannot be termed as correction of any clerical or arithmetical mistake. There being no provision under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 for review of the Award, the passing of the order dated 14.07.2004 in Review Award no.16/03-04 cannot be justified in law. [Para 10] [1048-D-E]
3. Section 12 of the Act clearly provides that the Award of the Collector shall become final on the same being filed in the Collector’s office, of which the Collector shall give immediate notice to the persons interested. From the facts of this case, it is clear that the Award dated 01.10.2003, of which due notice had been given to the appellants and part compensation had also been paid to the appellants in pursuance thereto, had become final and the same could not have been reviewed, and that too beyond a period of six months, within which period only clerical or arithmetical mistakes could have been corrected. [Para 11] [1048-F-G]
Kalabharati Advertising v. Hemant Vimalnath
Narichania (2010) 9 SCC 437 : [2010] 10 SCR 971 – relied on.
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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