TMI Blog2012 (7) TMI 923X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 6572/2009, 6583/2009, 6580/2009, 6573/2009, 6584/2009, 6588/2009, 6590/2009, 6575/2009, 6823/2009, 6853/2009, 6855/2009, 6554/2009, 6566/2009, 6557/2009, 6533/2009, 6558/2009, 6541/2009, 6556/2009, 6562/2009, 6568/2009, 6564/2009, 6539/2009, 6538/2009, 6553/2009, 6540/2009, 6852/2009, 6576/2009, 6587/2009, 6582/2009, 6581/2009, 6577/2009, 6574/2009, 6585/2009, 6578/2009, 6579/2009, 6854/2009, 6666-6667/2009, 6757/2009, 6747-6755/2009, 6831/2009, 6756/2009, 6591/2009, 6651/2009, 6606/2009, 6592/2009, 6658/2009, 6594/2009, 6595/2009, 6650/2009, 6657/2009, 6655/2009, 6596/2009, 6597/2009, 6620/2009, 6621/2009, 6602/2009, 6603/2009, 6622/2009, 6598/2009, 6624/2009, 6647/2009, 6654/2009, 6599/2009, 6607/2009, 6608/2009, 6623/2009, 6609/2009, 6600/2009, 6601/2009, 6649/2009, 6593/2009, 6605/2009, 6610/2009, 6611/2009, 6612/2009, 6653/2009, 6613/2009, 6642/2009, 6652/2009, 6643/2009, 6614/2009, 6659/2009, 6645/2009, 6648/2009, 6656/2009, 6646/2009, 6626/2009, 6615/2009, 6616/2009, 6644/2009, 6625/2009, 6639/2009, 6636/2009, 6637/2009, 6627/2009, 6631/2009, 6628/2009, 6638/2009, 6641/2009, 6629/2009, 6630/2009, 6619/2009, 6635/2009, 6640/2009, 6632/2009, 6633/2009, 6824- 6827/2009, 6664-6 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... luded in Block B and the amount of compensation was fixed at ₹ 3,91,196.97 per acre. 2.2. By another Notification dated 15.11.1994 issued under Section 4(1), the State Government proposed the acquisition of 1490 acres 3 kanals and 17 marlas land situated in villages Manesar, Naharpur Kasan, Khoh and Kasan. The declaration issued under Section 6(1) was published on 10.11.1995. By an award dated 3.4.1997, the Land Acquisition Collector fixed market value at the rate of ₹ 4,13,600/- per acre. The Reference Court divided the land into two Blocks. For the land comprised in Block A , the Reference Court determined the amount of compensation at the rate of ₹ 6,89,333/- per acre. The remaining land was included in Block B and no enhancement was granted in the compensation determined by the Land Acquisition Collector. 2.3. Before proceeding further, we may mention that in support of their claim for award of higher compensation, the land owners had produced 13 sale deeds which were marked Exhibits P1 to P13. Of these, Exhibit P1 dated 16.9.1994 was in respect of 12 acres land situated in village Naharpur Kasan, which was sold by M/s. Heritage Furniture Pvt. Ltd. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 00/- Ex.P4 is dated October 25,1991 whereby land measuring 9 kanals 9 marlas in Manesar was sold for ₹ 9,15,470/- reflecting an average price of Rs,7,75,000/- per acre. Ex.P7 and Ex.P8 are also the sale instances dated June 24, 1994 with regard land measuring 9 marlas each reflecting an average price of Rs,7,00,000/-per acre. The remaining sale instances Ex.P9 and P13 are of the year 1996 i.e. more than two years after the date of notification under section 4 of the Act. Similarly the sale instances Ex.Pl0, P11 and PI2 pertain to the sale of land in village Noorangpur. The said sale instances are, thus, not relevant. On the other hand, the sale instances relied upon by the State are Ex.Rl to Ex. R15 but they have rightly been rejected by the reference court itself on the ground that the said sale instance reflected an average price which is even less than the one assessed by the Collector and, as such, in view of the provisions of section 25 of the Act, the same were not relevant and worth consideration. As noticed above, the land which was acquired in the present proceedings is approximately 1500 acres. The sale instance Ex.Pl in my considered view, reflects as near as ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... challenged the judgments of the High Court on several grounds but the only point argued by the learned senior counsel appearing on its behalf was that the High Court committed serious error by determining market value of the acquired land solely on the basis of Exhibit P1 ignoring other sale deeds by which similar parcels of land were sold at the rate of ₹ 7 lakhs per acre or less. This is evinced from the following extracts of the judgment under review: Shri Amarendera Sharan, learned Senior Counsel and Shri Ravindra Bana, learned counsel appearing for the Corporation argued that the High Court committed serious error by fixing market value of the acquired land at ₹ 15 lakhs per acre in one batch of appeals and ₹ 12 lakhs in the other batch of appeals by relying upon the sale deed, Ext. P-1 excluding other sale transactions, which were produced before the Reference Court. The learned counsel submitted that the value of 12 acres of land which was sold by Ext. P-1 was wholly disproportionate to the prevailing market value and, therefore, the same could not be made basis for fixing market value of the acquired land measuring more than 1490 acres. Shri Amarender ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a genuine transaction. According to the petitioner, M/s. Heritage Furniture Pvt. Ltd. and M/s. Duracell India Pvt. Ltd. were controlled by the same management and this fact was brought to the notice of the concerned officers only after disposal of the appeals by this Court. IMT Industrial Association filed I.A.Nos.5 and 6 for impleadment as party to the review petitions. This Court dismissed the review petitions and the impleadment applications vide order dated 13.1.2011, paragraphs 4 to 8 of which are extracted below: 4. In the review petitions, it has been averred that the sale transaction dated 16.9.1994, upon which reliance was placed by the learned Single Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and by this Court for grant of enhanced compensation was motivated because parties to the transaction were under the control and management of the common board of directors and this fact came to the notice of the review petitioner only after dismissal of the appeals by this Court. 5. In paragraph 'A' of the grounds of the review petitions, the review petitioner has referred to the composition of M/s. Dura Cell India Private Limited and Heritage Furniture Private Limite ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rive them of just and reasonable compensation. Consequently, the impleadment application is dismissed. 3. Soon thereafter, the petitioner filed these petitions by reiterating that sale deed Exhibit P1 dated 16.9.1994 executed by M/s. Heritage Furniture Pvt. Ltd. in favour of M/s. Duracell India Pvt. Ltd. was not a bona fide transaction and the High Court and this Court committed serious error by relying upon the same for the purpose of determining the amount of compensation. In paragraph A of the review petition, the petitioner has set out the brief history of the two companies and pleaded that at the time of the execution of sale deed both the entities were under the control of the same set of persons. It has also been averred that the facts relating to composition of the Board of Directors of two companies could not be ascertained by exercising due diligence and the true nature of Exhibit P1 was revealed only after the judgment of this Court. According to the petitioner, M/s. Heritage Furniture Pvt. Ltd. had purchased different parcels of land from the farmers by executing 10 different sale deeds executed on 16th and 18th August, 1993 at an average price of ₹ 6 lakhs pe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ge Furniture Pvt. Ltd. and M/s Duracell India Pvt Ltd dt. 20.1.2011 and 21.2.2011; ii) Certificate of Incorporation of Heritage; iii) MoA and AoA of Heritage; iv) Mutations showing the purchase of land by Heritage under sale deeds dt. 16.8.1993 and 18.8.1993 at an average price of ₹ 6 lac per acre; v) Annual Return of Duracell dt. 14.6.2000 showing Saroj Kumar Poddar, Gurbunder Singh Gill and Jyotsana Poddar as the Directors; vi) True copy of sale deed dt. 16.9.1994; vii) Statement of Albel Singh substantiating the statements of the petitioners. 5. Some of the landowners have filed reply affidavits. Their stand is that Exhibit P1 reflected true market value of the acquired land as on the date of issue of notifications under Section 4(1) and that the petitioner s assertion that the transaction was not genuine is not correct. They have denied that the vendor and vendees were under the control of the same management and that exorbitantly high price was paid for 12 acres land in anticipation of some collaboration between M/s. Duracell India Pvt. Ltd. and M/s. Duracell Inc. USA, which would have benefited the former. With a view to avoid repetition, we may not ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... endee) wherein the vendor agreed to sell the land in question measuring about 12 acres to the vendee at a sale price of ₹ 2,42,00,000/- (Rs. Two crore forty lakhs only) as is clear from the recital in the sale deed itself. Ultimately vide sale deed dt.16.9.1994 the said land was sold at the same sale price by the vendor to the vendee. Thus the sale price of the land was agreed upon and fixed on 31.5.1994 as is clear from the recitation of the sale deed itself. 7. I further state that as per assertion of the review petitioner M/s. Heritage Furniture Pvt. (vendor) and M/s Duracell (India) Pvt. Ltd. (vendee) had common persons in their Board of Directors namely Sh. Saroj Kumar Poddar, Ms. Jyotsana Poddar and Sh. Gurvinder Singh Gill. The review petitioner has filed search reports of both the said companies to show that the abavoe said three persons were common directors of both the companies. However, from the said search report of M/s. Duracell (India) Pvt. Ltd. it is clear the two directors namely Sh. Saroj Kumar Poddar and Ms. Jyotsana Poddar were appointed as Directors of this company on 9.6.1994 whereas Sh. Gurvinder Singh gill was appointed as its Director on 9.2.1997. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... market price of the land in the year 1994 when section 4 notifications for the acquired land was issued. The allegation of the review petitioner that the sale deed (Ex.P.1) reflects inflated price is false and baseless. It is further submitted that another sale deed dt.17.7.1996 which is on record as (Ex.P.9) reflects the market value of the land in one of the acquired villages at ₹ 25,00,000/- (Rs. Twenty five lakhs) per acre. In this transaction 1 kanal 11 marlas of land situated in Village Naharpur Kasan, has been sold at a price of ₹ 4,84,375/-. This sale deed also proves that the market price of the acquired land in the year 1994 was ₹ 20 lakhs per acre. Copy of sale deed dt.17.7.1996 is Annexure R-4 is hereto. It may be mentioned here that the same purchaser purchased different pieces of land at the same rate vide 15 different sale deeds and the total land purchased was 18 kanals 5 marlas i.e. more than 2.25 acres. Paragraph 5 of the reply affidavit filed on behalf of the landowners who were respondents in Civil Appeal No.6561/2009. 5. That the present review petition is being filed only on the ground that Ex. P-1, which has been relied upon by the Hon ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 8815 20.9.1996 1K 6M 4,08,000/- 8. 8825 20.9.1996 1K 1M 3,53,000/- 9. 8832 20.9.1996 0K 17M 2,75,000/- 10. 8839 20.9.1996 1K 6M 4,08,000/- 11. 8846 20.9.1996 1K 5M 4,06,000/- 12. 8854 20.9.1996 1K 1M 3,55,000/- 13. 8861 20.9.1996 0K 17M 2,75,000/- Total land sale is 15 Kanals 3 Marlas total amount 4734375/- i.e. at rate of ₹ 25 lakh per acre. 14. 5431 17.7.96 1K 11M 4,84,375/- i.e. at the rate of ₹ 25 lakh per acre. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f SCO Sites for shopping booth in Sector-I, IMT Manesar auction held on 18.8.2009. Sr.No. Site No. Area in Sq. Mts Price of Site 1. T-1 144 2,67,50,000/- 2. T-2 144 2,33,50,000/- 3. T-3 144 2,29,00,000/- 4. T-4 144 2,29,00,000/- 5. T-5 144 2,31,00,000/- 6. T-7 144 2,28,00,000/- 7. T-8 144 2,25,00,000/- 8. T-9 144 2,22,00,000/- 9. T-10 144 2,16,00,000/- 10. D-1 108 1,82,00,000/- 11. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 13.67 per square yard or ₹ 77,54,34189/- per acre. 6. S/Shri Gopal Subramanium and Altaf Ahmed, learned senior advocates and other counsel who appeared for the petitioner relied upon reports dated 20.1.2011 and 21.1.2011 prepared by the Chartered Accountant M/s. AKG and Company to show that at least two of the Directors, namely, Shri Saroj Kumar Poddar and Ms. Jyotsana Poddar were common to the management of the two companies and submitted that land was shown to have been purchased by M/s. Duracell India Pvt. Ltd. at a very high price because it was hoping to reap benefit of the joint venture agreement with M/s. Duracell Inc. USA. Learned counsel pointed out that the vendor, namely, M/s. Heritage Furniture Pvt. Ltd. had purchased 12 acres land from different landowners at an average price of ₹ 6 lakhs per acre and argued that even if the benefit of 12% notional increase in the value of land was allowed to the vendor, no person of ordinary prudence would have purchased the same land after a period of 13 months at the rate of more than ₹ 20 lakhs per acre. Learned counsel also referred to the statement of the authorised signatory of the vendor M/s. Heritage Furn ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... order dated 13.1.2011. A careful reading of that order shows that in Review Petition Nos.2107-2108 of 2010, the petitioner had sought reconsideration of judgment dated 17.8.2010 on the premise that the vendor and the vendee had common management and that the price mentioned in the sale deed had been manipulated with an oblique motive. The Court declined to entertain this plea by observing that the petitioner had not produced any material to substantiate its assertion. Along with the present batch of review petitions, the petitioner has placed on record the search reports prepared by M/s AKG and Company, Certificate of Incorporation, Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association of M/s. Heritage Furniture Pvt. Ltd., mutations showing the purchase of land by M/s. Heritage Furniture Pvt. Ltd. vide sale deeds dated 16.8.1993 and 18.8.1993, annual return of M/s. Duracell India Pvt. Ltd. showing Shri Saroj Kumar Poddar, Shri Gurbunder Singh Gill and Ms. Jyotsana Poddar as the Directors and the statement of Albel Singh, but these documents neither singularly nor collectively support the petitioner s plea that management of the two companies, i.e., the vendor and the vendee, was un ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y who is not appealing from a decree or order may apply for a review of judgment notwithstanding the pendency of an appeal by some other party except where the ground of such appeal is common to the applicant and the appellant, or when, being respondent, he can present to the Appellate Court the case of which he applies for the review. Explanation- The fact that the decision on a question of law on which the judgment of the Court is based has been reversed or modified by the subsequent decision of a superior Court in any other case, shall not be a ground for the review of such judgment. 10. The aforesaid provisions have been interpreted in several cases. We shall notice some of them. In S. Nagaraj v. State of Karnataka 1993 Supp (4) SCC 595, this Court referred to the judgments in Raja Prithwi Chand Lal Choudhury v. Sukhraj Rai AIR 1941 FC 1 and Rajunder Narain Rae v. Bijai Govind Singh (1836) 1 Moo PC 117 and observed: Review literally and even judicially means re-examination or re- consideration. Basic philosophy inherent in it is the universal acceptance of human fallibility. Yet in the realm of law the courts and even the statutes lean strongly in favour of finality ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the substantive power to review any judgment or order by Article 137 of the Constitution. And clause (c) of Article 145 permitted this Court to frame rules as to the conditions subject to which any judgment or order may be reviewed. In exercise of this power Order XL had been framed empowering this Court to review an order in civil proceedings on grounds analogous to Order XLVII Rule 1 of the Civil Procedure Code. The expression, for any other sufficient reason in the clause has been given an expanded meaning and a decree or order passed under misapprehension of true state of circumstances has been held to be sufficient ground to exercise the power. Apart from Order XL Rule 1 of the Supreme Court Rules this Court has the inherent power to make such orders as may be necessary in the interest of justice or to prevent the abuse of process of Court. The Court is thus not precluded from recalling or reviewing its own order if it is satisfied that it is necessary to do so for sake of justice. 11. In Moran Mar Basselios Catholicos v. Most Rev. Mar Poulose Athanasius AIR 1954 SC 526, the three-Judge Bench referred to the provisions of the Travancore Code of Civil Procedure, which ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... irmative the question whether the High Court can review an order passed under Article 226 of the Constitution and proceeded to observe: But, there are definitive limits to the exercise of the power of review. The power of review may be exercised on the discovery of new and important matter or evidence which, after the exercise of due diligence was not within the knowledge of the person seeking the review or could not be produced by him at the time when the order was made; it may be exercised where some mistake or error apparent on the face of the record is found; it may also be exercised on any analogous ground. But, it may not be exercised on the ground that the decision was erroneous on merits. That would be the province of a court of appeal. A power of review is not to be confused with appellate powers which may enable an appellate court to correct all manner of errors committed by the subordinate court. 14. In Meera Bhanja v. Nirmala Kumari Choudhury (1995) 1 SCC 170, the Court considered as to what can be characterised as an error apparent on the fact of the record and observed: .it has to be kept in view that an error apparent on the face of record must be such ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r for any other sufficient reason . The former part of the rule deals with a situation attributable to the applicant, and the latter to a jural action which is manifestly incorrect or on which two conclusions are not possible. Neither of them postulate a rehearing of the dispute because a party had not highlighted all the aspects of the case or could perhaps have argued them more forcefully and/or cited binding precedents to the court and thereby enjoyed a favourable verdict. 18. In State of West Bengal v. Kamal Sengupta (2008) 8 SCC 612, the Court considered the question whether a Tribunal established under the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 can review its decision, referred to Section 22(3) of that Act, some of the judicial precedents and observed: At this stage it is apposite to observe that where a review is sought on the ground of discovery of new matter or evidence, such matter or evidence must be relevant and must be of such a character that if the same had been produced, it might have altered the judgment. In other words, mere discovery of new or important matter or evidence is not sufficient ground for review ex debito justitiae. Not only this, the party seekin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... more than ₹ 13 lakhs and ₹ 15 lakhs per acre and in 1996, a sale deed was executed in respect of the land of village Naharpur Kasan at the rate of ₹ 25 lakhs per acre. This omission coupled with the fact that the petitioner s assertion about commonality of the management of two companies is ex-facie incorrect leads to an irresistible inference that judgment dated 17.8.2010 does not suffer from any error apparent on the face of the record warranting its review. Surely, in guise of seeking review, the petitioner cannot ask for de novo hearing of the appeals. 20. The petitioner s plea that the documents produced along with the review petitions could not be brought to the notice of the Reference Court and the High Court despite exercise of due diligence by its officers does not commend acceptance because it had not explained as to why the concerned officers/officials, who were very much aware of other sale transactions produced by themselves and the landowners did not try to find out the reasons for wide difference in the price of land sold by Exhibit P1 and other parcels of land sold by Exhibits P2 to P13 and Exhibits R1 to R15. 21. Before concluding, we would ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
