The High Court of Kerala addressed an appeal against the fixation of land value under the Land Acquisition Act. The Court upheld the Sub Court's finding that the acquired land was not comparable to a separate property with a higher fixed value, dismissing the appeal for lack of evidence proving comparability.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
PRESENT:
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE S.SIRI JAGAN &
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE BABU MATHEW P.JOSEPH
WEDNESDAY, THE 10TH DAY OF APRIL 2013/20TH CHAITHRA 1935
LA.App..No. 828 of 2005 ( )
AGAINST THE JUDGMENT & DECREE IN LAR.204/2002 of PRINCIPAL SUB COURT,ALAPPUZHA DATED 26-05-2004
APPELLANT(S)/CLAIMANTS:
1. P.KRISHNA PANICKER, PARIPRA HOUSE, PAILAPPUZHA MURI, HARIPAD VILLAGE.
2. P.NARAYANA PANICKER,
3. R.GOPINATHA PANICKER,
4. R.RADHAKRISHNA PANICKER,
5. P.VIJAYAKUMARA PANICKER,
6. L.SHYAMALA, PARIPRA HOUSE, PAILAPPUZHA MURI, HARIPAD VILLAGE.
7. L.PRASANNA,
RESPONDENT(S)/RESPONDENTS:
1. STATE OF KERALA, REPRESENTED BY THE DISTRICT COLLECTOR, ALAPPUZHA.
2. EXECUTIVE ENGINEER (CONSTRUCTION), SOUTHERN RAILWAY.
R1 BY ADV. GOVERNMENT PLEADER SRI.E.M.ABDUL KHADER
THIS LAND ACQUISITION APPEAL HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON 10-042013, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
S.SIRI JAGAN & BABU MATHEW P.JOSEPH, JJ. ================== L.A.A.No. 828 of 2005
==================
Dated this the 10th day of April, 2013 J U D G M E N T
Siri Jagan, J.
The claimants in L.A.R.No.204/2002 before the Principal Sub Judge, Alappuzha, are the appellants herein. They are aggrieved by the judgment dated 26.5.2004 of the Sub Judge in that L.A.R.. Certain lands belonging to the appellants were acquired by a notification dated 10.5.1988 issued under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act. The land acquisition officer fixed land value at 8000/- per are for dry land and 1978/- per are for wet land. The Sub Court, after considering the evidence, fixed land value at 15,119.20 per are for dry land and 5,728.40 per are for wet land. Dissatisfied with the land value fixed by the Sub Court, the appellants have filed this appeal claiming enhanced land value for their lands.
L.A.A.828/05 - : 2 :-
L.A.A.828/05 - : 3 :-
reasons also. The appellants had not taken the trouble of proving that both are identical lands except by examining one of the claimants as AW1. Apart from his oral evidence, which is only a self serving evidence, no other evidence has been adduced by the appellants to prove that both properties are comparable properties. The appellants did not even choose to take out a commission to prove their contention. Insofar as the Sub Court has given cogent and elaborate reasons as to why the two properties are not comparable, which could not be countered by the appellants, we are not inclined to interfere with the findings of the Sub Court. It is after finding that Ext.A1 property is better property than the acquired property that from the land value fixed in Exts.A1 and A2 judgments, the Sub Court has reduced 20% therefrom to fix land value for the acquired land. There is no infirmity whatsoever in the judgment and accordingly, the appeal is dismissed.
Sd/S.SIRI JAGAN, JUDGE
Sd/sdk+ BABU MATHEW P.JOSEPH, JUDGE ///True copy///
P.A. to Judge
L.A.A.828/05 - : 4 :-
3 issues framed by the court
Whether the Sub Court erred in reducing the land value by 20% based on a finding that the acquired land was not comparable to the higher-valued property in previous judgments.
Whether the appellants adduced sufficient evidence to prove that the acquired property and the property in Ext.A1 were comparable.
Whether this Court should interfere with the findings of the Sub Court regarding the comparability of the two lands.
1 provisions across 1 enactments
P.KRISHNA PANICKER AND OTHERS
STATE OF KERALA REPRESENTED BY THE DISTRICT COLLECTOR, ALAPPUZHA AND EXECUTIVE ENGINEER (CONSTRUCTION), SOUTHERN RAILWAY
S.SIRI JAGAN
BABU MATHEW P.JOSEPH
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
