Court allowed land acquisition appeal and refixed land value for Category C property from Rs.6,17,500 to Rs.5,39,190 per are, relying on a Division Bench judgment. Claimants entitled to revised compensation plus statutory benefits.
Land value refixed to Rs.5,39,190 per are; claimants entitled to compensation at this rate with statutory benefits.
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 AMIT RAWAL
&
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE EASWARAN S.
TUESDAY, THE 9TH DAY OF JULY 2024 / 18TH ASHADHA, 1946
LA.APP. NO. 601 OF 2015
AGAINST THE JUDGMENT AND DECREE DATED 27.02.2015 IN L.A.R. NO.3 OF
2014 OF SUB COURT, KOTTAYAM.
APPELLANTS/RESPONDENTS NOS.1 TO 3:
1 STATE OF KERALAREPRESENTED BY THE DISTRICT COLLECTOR, KOTTAYAM.2 THE SPECIAL TAHSILDAR (L.A.) GENERAL, KOTTAYAM.3 THE EXECUTIVE ENGINEER, PWD ROAD DIVISION, KOTTAYAM.BY ADV
T.K.VIPINDAS, SR.GOVERNMENT PLEADER
RESPONDENTS/CLAIMANT:
1 SANKARAN NAMBOOTHIRI S/O.NEELAKANDAN NAMBOOTHIRI, NEDUNILAM, VELLASSERI, KADUTHURUTHY P.O., KADUTHURUTHY VILLAGE, VAIKOM TALUK, KOTTAYAM DISTRICT, REPRESENTED BY POWER OF ATTORNEY HOLDER HIS SON-IN-LAW MR.MADHUSOODHAN NAMBOOTHIRI, AGED 43 YEARS, S/O.NARAYANAN NAMBOOTHIRI, MURALEE SADANAM, AREEPARMBU P.O., MANARCADU VILLAGE, KOTTAYAM TALUK, KOTTAYAM DISTRICT-686019.(*DIED)*ADDL.2 MAYA P NAMBOOTHIRI, AGED 61 YEARS, D/O SANKARAN NAMBOOTHIRI, VELLASSSERY KARA, KADUTHURUTHY P.O, VAIKOM TALUK, KOTTAYAM – 686604*ADDL.3 SOBHA AJITHKUMAR, AGED 55 YEARS, D/O SANKARAN NAMBOOTHIRI, VELLASSSERY KARA, KADUTHURUTHY P.O, VAIKOM TALUK, KOTTAYAM – 686604*ADDL.4 SHINY MADHUSOODHANAN, AGED 50 YEARS, W/O MADHUSOODHANAN NAMBOOTHIRI, VELLASSSERY KARA, KADUTHURUTHY P.O, VAIKOM TALUK, KOTTAYAM – 686604LA.APP. NO. 601 OF 2015 -2-
(*THE LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES OF THE DECEASED
RESPONDENT ARE IMPLEADED AS ADDITIONAL
RESPONDENTS 2 TO 4 IN THE APPEAL AS PER ORDER
DATED 09.07.2024 IN IA 3/2024 IN LAA 601/2015)
BY ADVS.
SRI.DOMSON J.VATTAKUZHY
SRI.MATHEW JOHN K
THIS LAND ACQUISITION APPEAL HAVING BEEN FINALLY
HEARD ON 09.07.2024, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED
THE FOLLOWING:
LA.APP. NO. 601 OF 2015 -3-
JUDGMENT
EASWARAN S., J.
The State of Kerala are the appellants. The appeal is directed against the judgment and decree in LAR No.3 of 2014 of the Sub Court, Kottayam.
LA.APP. NO. 601 OF 2015 -4-
batch of cases and the Sub Court categorized the properties into four and fixed the value in accordance with the importance of the land falling under each category.
LA.APP. NO. 601 OF 2015 -5-
of this Court by judgment dated 11.10.2023, the land value fixed by the reference court for the category A to D were revised. However, after pronouncing the judgment in the present appeal it was brought to the notice of the Court that the sole respondent expired and accordingly the judgment was recalled and the appeal was listed thereafter.
LA.APP. NO. 601 OF 2015 -6-
2015 and connected cases. Relevant paragraph of the aforesaid judgment is hereby extracted:
“…..23. C-Category properties are reclaimed lands but have access to Panchayat road. D- Category properties are also reclaimed lands. These lands have a more notable disadvantage that there is no road access. Therefore, value of D-Category properties would be much lesser than C-Category properties, which have road access. Having regard to all such aspects, we are of the view that the value of lands in C and D categories are liable to be fixed by scaling down by 10% and 25% respectively from the value of B category lands. Accordingly, the market value of the acquired lands in Categories A, B, C and D are refixed as follows,-
| Category | Value per Are |
|---|---|
| A | Rs.6,59,010/- |
| B | Rs.5,99,100/- |
| C | Rs.5,39,190/- |
| D | Rs.4,49,325/- |
These appeals are allowed to the above extent.
LA.APP. NO. 601 OF 2015 -7-
The claimants are entitled to compensation computing the land value at the said rates along with all statutory benefits.”
We are of the considered view that the same yardstick needs to be applied in the present case. Accordingly, the appeal is allowed, the land value fixed by the Reference Court at Rs.6,17,500/- (Rupees Six lakh seventeen thousand five hundred only) per Are is refixed as Rs.5,39,190/- (Rupees Five lakh thirty nine thousand one hundred and ninety only) per Are. The
LA.APP. NO. 601 OF 2015 -8-
claimants are entitled to the compensation computing the land value at the said rate along with the statutory benefits. Appeal stands allowed as above.
Sd/-
AMIT RAWAL
JUDGE
Sd/-
EASWARAN S.
JUDGE
VV
3 issues framed by the court
Whether the land value fixed by the reference court under Category C needs to be revised based on recent Division Bench judgments.
Whether the appeal filed by the State regarding the fixation of land value should be allowed.
What is the revised compensation amount for land acquired under Category C after applying the new yardstick.
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
L.A.App. No.521 of 2015 and connected casesApplied¶39
State of Kerala
Sankaran Namboothiri
Amit Rawal
Easwaran S.
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court