Godawari Marathwada Irrigation Development Corporation Latur… — Land Acquisition | Bombay HC (2025)

Godawari Marathwada Irrigation Development Corporation Latur… — Land Acquisition | Bombay HC (2025)

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Appeals disposed of as withdrawn (permission to withdraw granted on State Government policy); impugned Awards modified regarding interest under Sections 28 and 34 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 as per State of Maharashtra v. Kailash Shiva Rangari (2016 (4) ALL MR 513) and State of Maharashtra v. Ramesh Tukaram Meshram (2018(1) ALL MR 645); deposited amounts to be disbursed to claimants, failing which to be deposited within six months; no order as to costs; Award to be prepared in terms of the order; Civil Applications disposed of; Court Fee Certificate to be issued as per Rules

Issue for consideration

Whether the appeals filed by the Acquiring Bodies against the Reference Courts' enhancement of compensation ought to be withdrawn in view of the State Government policy (Government Resolution No. Sankirna-2014/pra.kra.41/Bhag-1/A4 dated 03.11.2016, with corrigenda) that no appeal shall be preferred where the enhancement is within four times of the SLAO award +1 more

Court's answer

Permission granted to the Acquiring Body to withdraw these appeals in view of the State Government policy that, where the compensation enhanced by the Reference Court is within four times of the award of the Special Land Acquisition Officer, no appeal shall be preferred against the SLAO award

Ratio / Principle

Impugned Award/s modified: having considered the legal position in State of Maharashtra v. Kailash Shiva Rangari, 2016 (4) ALL MR 513 (Full Bench) and State of Maharashtra v. Ramesh Tukaram Meshram, 2018(1) ALL MR 645 (learned Single Judge), the interest under Sections 28 and 34 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 awarded by the SLAO as well as the Reference Court shall be calculated, if required, as per those two judgments

Key takeaways

The amount deposited by the Acquiring Body in this Court shall be disbursed to the claimants; if not deposited, it shall be deposited within six months from the date of the orderratio¶149

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

National Lok Adalat (High Court Legal Services Sub-Committee, Aurangabad), order dated 22.03.2025, panel comprising Justice Neeraj P. Dhote (Head of the Panel), S.G. Shete (District Judge (Retd.)) and A.R. Borulkar (Advocate), disposing of batches of first appeals/FA(ST) and civil applications in which acquiring bodies (Executive Engineer, Latur Medium Project Division; Godawari Marathwada Irrigation Development Corporation, Latur; Executive Engineer, Minor Irrigation Division, Latur through GMIDC, Aurangabad; Executive Engineer, Latur Minor Irrigation Division) had challenged Reference Court awards enhancing land-acquisition compensation. With consent of parties, permission granted to withdraw the appeals in view of the State Government policy (Government Resolution No. Sankirna-2014/pra.kra.41/Bhag-1/A4 dated 03.11.2016, with corrigenda dated 23.02.2017 and 13.08.2018) that no appeal shall be preferred where the Reference Court enhancement is within four times of the Special Land Acquisition Officer's award. Impugned Awards modified on interest: interest under Sections 28 and 34 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (as awarded by SLAO and Reference Court) to be calculated per the Full Bench verdict in State of Maharashtra v. Kailash Shiva Rangari, 2016 (4) ALL MR 513 and the learned Single Judge's decision in State of Maharashtra v. Ramesh Tukaram Meshram, 2018(1) ALL MR 645. Amounts deposited by the Acquiring Body to be disbursed to claimants, failing which to be deposited within six months; no order as to costs.

223,224,225 & 112 .odt

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IN THE NATIONAL LOK ADALAT PRESIDED OVER BY HON’BLE SHRI JUSTICE NEERAJ P. DHOTE, HELD ON 22.03.2025

AT HIGH COURT LEGAL SERVICES SUB-COMMITTEE AT AURANGABAD

223 CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 12818 OF 2013 IN FAST/22019/2013

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 12815 OF 2013 IN FAST/ 21955 /2013

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 12816 OF 2013 IN FAST/21955/2013

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 12817 OF 2013 IN FAST/ 22019 /2013

Executive Engineer, Latur Medium Project Division

VERSUS

Daulat Gulam Mohammad Shaikh And Another

Advocate for the Appellant : Mr. B. R. Surwase Advocate for Respondent : Mr. Sangle Shirish G.

AND

224 CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 3625 OF 2014 IN FAST/ 2986 /2014

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 3626 OF 2014

IN FAST/2986/2014 WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 3627 OF 2014 IN FAST/2986/2014

Godawari Marathwada Irrigation Development Corporation Latur VERSUS

Wagambar Eknathrao Gore

Advocate for Appellant : Mrs. Kalpalata Patil (Bharaswadkar)

AND

225 CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 7640 OF 2019 IN FA/2340/2019

223,224,225 & 112 .odt

-2-

WITH

FIRST APPEAL NO. 2332 OF 2019

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 7605 OF 2019 IN FA/2332/2019

WITH

FIRST APPEAL NO. 2335 OF 2019

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 7611 OF 2019 IN FA/2335/2019

WITH

FIRST APPEAL NO. 2337 OF 2019

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 7634 OF 2019 IN FA/2337/2019

WITH

FIRST APPEAL NO. 2338 OF 2019

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 7636 OF 2019 IN FA/2338/2019

WITH

FIRST APPEAL NO. 2340 OF 2019

WITH

FIRST APPEAL NO. 2333 OF 2019

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 7607 OF 2019 IN FA/2333/2019

WITH

FIRST APPEAL NO. 2339 OF 2019

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 7638 OF 2019

IN FA/2339/2019

WITH

223,224,225 & 112 .odt

-3-

FIRST APPEAL NO. 2334 OF 2019

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 7609 OF 2019 IN FA/2334/2019

WITH

FIRST APPEAL NO. 2336 OF 2019

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 7613 OF 2019 IN FA/2336/2019

The Ex. Engineer, Minor Irrigation Division, Latur Thr G.m.i.d.c., Aurangabad

VERSUS

Bapurao Tukaram Mule And Anr

Advocate for Appellant : Mr. S. G. Bhalerao, Mr. B. R. Surwase

AND

112 CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 4846 OF 2012 IN FAST/33559/2011

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 4847 OF 2012

IN

FA(ST) No. 33559 of 2011 WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 4848 OF 2012 IN FAST/ 33316 /2011

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 4849 OF 2012 IN FAST/33316/2011

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 4866 OF 2012 IN FAST/ 33446 /2011

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 4852 OF 2012 IN FAST/ 33445 /2011

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 4853 OF 2012

IN FAST/33445/2011

223,224,225 & 112 .odt

-4-

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 4867 OF 2012 IN FAST/33446/2011

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 4861 OF 2012 IN FAST/ 33451 /2011

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 4864 OF 2012 IN FAST/ 33452 /2011

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 4862 OF 2012 IN FAST/33452/2011

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 4865 OF 2012 IN FAST/33452/2011

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 4850 OF 2012 IN FAST/33458/2011

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 4851 OF 2012 IN FAST/33458/2011

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 4872 OF 2012 IN FAST/ 33465 /2011

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 4871 OF 2012 IN FAST/33465/2011

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 4875 OF 2012 IN FAST/ 33468 /2011

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 4877 OF 2012 IN FAST/33468/2011

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 4873 OF 2012

223,224,225 & 112 .odt

-5-

IN FAST/ 33474 /2011

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 4874 OF 2012 IN FAST/33474/2011

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 4854 OF 2012 IN FAST/ 33477 /2011

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 4855 OF 2012 IN FAST/33477/2011

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 4860 OF 2012 IN FAST/ 33487 /2011

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 4858 OF 2012 IN FAST/33487/2011

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 4856 OF 2012 IN FAST/33492/2011

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 4857 OF 2012 IN FAST/33492/2011

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 4868 OF 2012 IN FAST/ 33521 /2011

WITH

CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 4870 OF 2012 IN FAST/33521/2011

The Executive Engineer, Latur Minor Irrigation Div.

VERSUS

Ajit Dagdusaheb Deshmukh And Anr

Advocate for Appellant/ Acquiring Body : Mr.P. R. Tandale. Mr. S.G. Bhalerao, Mrs. Kalplata Patil Baraswadka, Mr. B. R. Surwase respectively

Advocate for Respondent : Mr. G.K.Sonttake

223,224,225 & 112 .odt -6-

ORDER

These Appeals are placed before today’s National Lok Adalat with the consent of the parties.

Mr. M.R. Kale, Executive Engineer, Latur Minor Irrigation Division, is personally present before us along with learned Advocate Mr.P. R. Tandale. Mr. S.G. Bhalerao, Mrs. Kalplata Patil Baraswadkar, Gajnan Sonttake respectively appear on behalf of Acquiring Body. The Executive Engineer placed on record the copy of the communication dated 20.03.2025 issued by Executive Engineer, Latur Laghu Patbandhare Vibhag, Latur. The same is taken on record and marked as Exhibit-1.

These are the appeals filed by the Acquiring Body, against the Judgment and Order of the Award passed by the learned Reference Court.

They submit that the amount of compensation enhanced by the learned Reference Court is within four times of the compensation awarded by the Special Land Acquisition Officer. They submit that, there is policy decision of the State Government vide Government Resolution No. Sankirna-2014/pra.kra.41/Bhag-1/A4 dated 3^rd November, 2016 along with subsequent corrigendum dated 23^rd February 2017 and 13^th August 2018 to the said Government Resolution, that if the enhanced compensation by the Reference Court is within four times, then

223,224,225 & 112 .odt

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against the Award passed by the learned Special Land Acquisition Officer, the appeal shall not be preferred. So there is no dispute of this aspect. In view of the said policy of the State Government, the Acquiring Body desires to withdraw these appeals. In view of the above, permission is granted to withdraw these appeals.

The learned Advocate for both the parties further submit that as far as the interest under Section 28 and 34 of the Land Acquisition At, 1894 ( for short”Act”) awarded by the SLAO as well as Reference Court shall be as per verdict by the Full Bench in the case of State of Maharashtra Vs. Kailash Shiva Rangari, 2016 (4) ALL MR 513 and the Hon’ble Single Judge in the case of State of Maharashtra Vs. Ramesh Tukaram Meshram-2018(1) ALL MR 645. In turn, they submit that the impugned Award may be modified to that extent as far as interest is concerned.

Having considered the legal position ruled in both the aforesaid judgments, the impugned Award/s stands modified. The interest shall be calculated, if required as per these two judgments.

The amount deposited by the Acquiring Body in this Court, shall be disbursed to the claimants. If Acquiring Body has not deposited the amount, the same shall be deposited within a period of six months from the date of order.

In view of the above, these appeals stand disposed of as

223,224,225 & 112 .odt

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withdrawn. No order as to costs.

The Award be prepared in terms of this order.

The Civil Applications, if any, stand disposed of.

The Court Fee Certificate be issued as per the Rules.

(A.R. BORULKAR) (S. G. SHETE) (NEERAJ P. DHOTE) Advocate District Judge (Retd.) Judge Member Member Head of the Panel

Date: 22.03.2025 Place: Aurangabad

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