1989 (5) TMI 54 - SUPREME COURT

Whether, Under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, as amended by the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Act, 1984, the claimants are entitled to solatium at 30 per cent. of the market value irrespective of the dates oil which the acquisition proceedings were initiated or the dates on which the award had been passed ?

Held that:- What Parliament intends to say is that the benefit of section 30(2) will be available to an award by the Collector or the court made between the aforesaid two dates or to an appellate order of the High Court or of the Supreme Court which arises out of an award of the Collector or the court made between the said two dates. The word 'or' is used with reference to the stage at which the proceeding rests at the time when the benefit under section 30(2) is sought to be extended. If the proceeding has terminated with the award of the Collector or of the court made between the aforesaid two dates, the benefit of section 30(2) will be applied to such award made between the aforesaid two dates. If the proceeding has passed to the stage of appeal before the High Court or the Supreme Court, it is at that stage that the benefit of section 30(2) will be applied. But, in every case, the award of the Collector or of the court must have been made between April 30, 1982 and September 24, 1984.