Disposed¶111

K.Vasantha v. the State of Tamil Nadu

Madras HC14 Mar 2025WP/25980/2023

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

Madras High Court, W.P.No.25980 of 2023, decided 14.3.2025 by N. Anand Venkatesh, J. Conditional assignment to ex-serviceman husband resumed for NLC India Ltd. (Neyveli) in 1981; compensation of Rs.3,000/- per acre paid to original assignees in 1984; claim revived in 2018 after deaths in family; delay/laches of over 44 years; ex-gratia in lieu of compensation sustained and quantified at Rs.75,000/-; Land Acquisition Act, 1894 Section 4(1); R. Abdul Jabbar 1996 2 CTC 719 distinguished; certiorarified mandamus refused; Aziz Nagar, Virudhachalam Taluk, Cuddalore District.

What did the court decide?

Writ petition disposed of in the above terms with no costs; ex-gratia amount quantified by the Court at Rs.75,000/-, payable by the fifth respondent (NLC India Ltd.) to the petitioner within four weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of the order.

K.Vasantha Vs the State of Tamil Nadu — Land Acquisition | Madras HC (2025)

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

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Issue for consideration

Whether the petitioner is entitled to payment of compensation for the lands acquired by NLC (fifth respondent) notwithstanding the conditional assignment in favour of her husband and the payment of compensation to the original assignees in 1984, or whether she can at best claim only ex-gratia; i.e., whether the impugned proceedings dated 03.3.2022 confining her to ex-gratia are illegal.

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Court's answer

The claim for compensation for the lands utilised by the fifth respondent in 1981 has been kept alive for more than 44 years (acquisition 1981, payment to original assignees 1984, writ petition by husband in 2002, revival in 2018, final hearing in 2025); consequently, the impugned proceedings of the fourth respondent dated 03.3.2022 cannot be held to be illegal.

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Ratio / Principle

The fourth respondent took into account that compensation had been paid to the claimants in 1984 and that, at best, only ex-gratia could be paid to the petitioner; that finding does not suffer from any illegality or error of law apparent on the face of the order.

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Key takeaways

To render substantial justice to the petitioner, this Court quantifies the ex-gratia amount at Rs.75,000/- payable by the fifth respondent to the petitioner within four weeks from receipt of a copy of the order.ratio¶110

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Madras High Court (N. Anand Venkatesh, J.) disposed of a writ petition under Article 226 challenging proceedings dated 03.3.2022 of the fourth respondent (Special Deputy Collector, NLC India Ltd.) rejecting the petitioner's claim for compensation and confining her to ex-gratia. The petitioner's husband, an ex-serviceman of the 1971 Indo-Pak war, held the subject lands (S.Nos. 57/1, 57/2 and 57/3, total 2 acres 86 cents, Aziz Nagar, Virudhachalam Taluk) under a conditional assignment retaining the Government's power to resume; the lands were taken for NLC in 1981 without any notification under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, and Rs.3,000/- per acre was paid to the original assignees in 1984. After successive rounds of litigation (W.P.No.1677 of 1992; W.P.No.29906 of 2002; rejection dated 08.3.2010; W.P.No.23193 of 2021), the Court held that a claim kept alive for more than 44 years could not invalidate the impugned order, distinguished R. Abdul Jabbar v. State of Tamil Nadu, 1996 (2) CTC 719 (where compensation was directed to a purchaser from an assignee upon violation of conditions of assignment), found no illegality in the ex-gratia direction, and quantified the ex-gratia at Rs.75,000/- payable by NLC India Ltd. within four weeks. Writ petition disposed of; no costs.