TMI Blog2017 (1) TMI 1828X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rein are concerned, they are not the consenting parties. In that event, they could have brought them on board with other land owners by taking their specific consent as well or proceeded further Under Section 29(3) of the KIAD Act. Taking these factors into consideration, the learned Single Judge vide his judgment dated 9th November, 2012 permitted the Appellants to proceed on the basis of the Gazette notification dated 15th June, 2005 acquiring the land and determine the compensation by making an award in this behalf. By this process, Appellants were allowed to proceed afresh to determine the compensation Under Section 29(2) of the KIAD Act by reaching an agreement with the Respondents, and failing which to refer the case to the Deputy Commissioner Under Section 29(2) for determination of the amount of compensation. The learned Single Judge, by adopting this course of action, specifically rejected the contention of the Respondents herein to quash the proceedings. The Division Bench of the High Court by the impugned judgment, however, has quashed the acquisition proceedings itself holding that they have lapsed. For this purpose, the High Court has taken aid of Section 24 of the New ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... KIAD Act ) as it wanted to acquire certain lands, including that of the Respondents for the purpose of developing the said lands as an Industrial Area and the same was published in the Karnataka Gazette on 15th September, 2000. 4. After issuing the necessary notices and following the procedure prescribed under the KIAD Act, a final notification Under Section 28(4) was issued on 15th June, 2005 in respect of total 153 acres 10 guntas of land. 5. Section 29 of the KIAD Act deals with compensation. Section 29(2) provides that where the compensation has been determined by agreement between the State Government and the person to be compensated, it shall be paid in accordance with such an agreement. In case, where no agreement is arrived at, the State Government is to refer the case to the Deputy Commissioner for determination of the amount of compensation to be paid. This scheme of acquisition of land is contained in Sections 29 and 30 which are reproduced below: 28. Acquisition of land.- (1) If at any time, in the opinion of the State Government, any land is required for the purpose of development by the Board, or for any other purpose in furtherance of the objects of this Act, the St ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d, the State Government shall refer the case to the Deputy Commissioner for determination of the amount of compensation to be paid for such acquisition as also the person or persons to whom such compensation shall be paid. (4) On receipt of a reference under Sub-section (3), the Deputy Commissioner shall serve notice on the owner or occupier of such land and on all persons known or believed to be interested herein to appear before him and state their respective interests in the said land. 6. Section 30 of the KIAD Act deals with application of Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Old LA Act') and same is reproduced below: Section 30. application of Central Act 1 of 1894.--The provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (Central Act 1 of 1894) shall mutatis mutandis apply in respect of the enquiry and award by the Deputy Commissioner, the reference to court, the apportionment of compensation and the payment of compensation, in respect of lands acquired under this Chapter. 7. In view of the statutory obligations to pay compensation in accordance with the provisions of the KIAD Act, the Deputy Commissioner, Madhya came to be constituted as an authority ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ing grounds: (a) That provisions of Section 11, 11A of the Old LA Act are made applicable to the proceedings under KAID Act by virtue of Section 30 of the KAID Act and the Deputy Commissioner has not passed any award as required Under Section 11 of the Old LA Act; (b) The entire proceedings initiated Under Section 28 of the KAID Act have lapsed as no award has been passed within two years from the date of publication of final declaration. (c) In the absence of consent award Under Section 29(2) of the KIAD Act, the Deputy Commissioner is duty bound to pass regular award Under Section 11A of the Old LA Act within two years from the date of publication of final notification. (d) That the Respondent herein had not given any consent for the so-called consent award as she had not appeared before the Deputy Commissioner and did not participate in the said proceeding. 10. The Appellants contested the said writ petition by filing their statement of objection. As per the Appellants, all the statutory notices had been sent at the correct address of the Respondent and necessary procedure for fixation of compensation had been followed by them. It was also submitted that provisions of Section 11 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he New LA Act is applicable and that the acquisition proceedings would be deemed to have lapsed due to non-payment, compensation and non-passing of the award within a period of two years. (c) That the New LA Act does not say whether it is applicable to the lands acquired under the provisions of Karnataka Land Acquisition Act but what Section 24 says is that once the award is not passed Under Section 11A of Old LA Act or the compensation is not paid within five years, such proceeding would be lapse. 13. It could be gathered from the above that the Division Bench has held that the New LA Act would be applicable to the present proceedings though they were initiated under the provisions of the KIAD Act read with the Old LA Act. It has further held that since there was no consent on fixation of the compensation given by the Respondents, the case would be governed by Section 24(1) of the New LA Act. However, since there is no provision for passing the award under the KIAD Act, which had to be passed only under the Old LA Act, and since no award had been passed after the final declaration on 15th June, 2005, acquisition proceedings are deemed to have been lapsed. 14. Learned Counsel for t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r that the first question which needs determination is as to whether fixation of compensation at the rate of Rs. 6,50,000/- per acre by the Advisory Committee is with the consent of the Respondents or not. 17. Before adverting to the aforesaid aspect, we may clarify certain legal aspects. In the State of Karnataka, land can be acquired under the KIAD Act as well, for the purpose of developing the acquired land as an industrial area. Section 28(1) of the KIAD Act provides for issuance of preliminary notification for the aforesaid purpose. Other Sub-sections of Section 28 provide for a particular procedure to be followed by issuing necessary notices and once that is undertaken, final notification for acquisition of the land can be issued under Sub-section (4) of Section 28 of the KIAD Act. Section 29 of the KIAD Act deals with the payment of compensation. The provision which is made under this Section calls for determination of compensation by agreement between the State Government on the one hand and the land owner, who is to be compensated for the land acquired, on the other hand. In case, no such agreement is arrived at, the State Government is supposed to refer the case to the De ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 29 of the KIAD Act. The State Government had constituted the Advisory Committee consisting of 8 persons which deliberated with the land owners in order to arrive at consensual figure of the compensation. Notice dated 23rd August, 2005 was issued in this behalf fixing the date of meeting as 9th September, 2005 with request to the land owners to attend the said meeting. Appellants have placed on record proceedings of the said meeting held on 9th September, 2005 as per which consent agreement was arrived at whereby compensation was fixed at Rs. 6,50,000/- per acre. It appears that thereafter letter dated 16th August, 2006 was sent by the Office of the Special Land Acquisition Officer, KIADB, Mysore though it is not placed on record. However, Respondent Anasuya Bai responded to that letter vide her communication dated 30th October, 2006 stating that she was ready to take reasonable and adequate compensation as per the rate prevailing in the market. Thereafter, she wrote letter dated 7th February, 2008 requesting the Appellants to furnish copies of preliminary notification dated 13th May, 2005 and final notification issued Under Section 28(4) dated 15th June, 2005. Another letter dated ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... compensation at Rs. 6,50,000/- per acre. However, the moot question is as to whether Respondents are also consenting parties. The learned Single Judge of the High Court returned a categorical finding that Respondents never gave any such consent. For this purpose, reference was made to Rule 10(b) of the Karnataka Land Acquisition Rules, 1965 which states the format in which the said mutual agreement is to be arrived at i.e. Form D. Rule 10(b) states the form of agreement to be executed under Sub-section (2) of Section 11 shall be in Form D. No such document is produced by the Appellants. Moreover, the Appellants also could not show that notice dated 23rd August, 2005 was, in fact, served on the Respondents. Therefore, the Respondents had not consented to the amount of compensation that was determined in the minutes dated 9th September, 2005. This finding is upheld by the Division Bench in the impugned judgment as well. There is no reason to disagree with this finding. 22. Having said so, it also needs to be kept in mind that a large chunk of land was acquired by the Appellants and a minuscule part thereof belonged to the Respondents herein. Further, insofar as Respondents are concer ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ngle Judge vide his judgment dated 9th November, 2012 permitted the Appellants to proceed on the basis of the Gazette notification dated 15th June, 2005 acquiring the land and determine the compensation by making an award in this behalf. By this process, Appellants were allowed to proceed afresh to determine the compensation Under Section 29(2) of the KIAD Act by reaching an agreement with the Respondents, and failing which to refer the case to the Deputy Commissioner Under Section 29(2) for determination of the amount of compensation. The learned Single Judge, by adopting this course of action, specifically rejected the contention of the Respondents herein to quash the proceedings. 24. The Division Bench of the High Court by the impugned judgment, however, has quashed the acquisition proceedings itself holding that they have lapsed. For this purpose, the High Court has taken aid of Section 24 of the New LA Act in the following manner: 13. It is also noted that the acquisition proceedings including preliminary and final declaration have been passed under the provisions of the KIADB Act. But there is no provisions under the KIADB Act to pass an award and award has to be passed only ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n M. Nagabhushana's case which is referred by it in the aforesaid discussion itself. This judgment categorically holds that once the proceedings are initiated under the KIAD Act, Section 11A of the Old LA Act would not be applicable. Such an opinion of the Court is based on the following rationale: 29. The Appellant has not challenged the validity of the aforesaid provisions. Therefore, on a combined reading of the provisions of Sections 28(4) and 28(5) of the KIAD Act, it is clear that on the publication of the Notification Under Section 28(4) of the KIAD Act i.e. from 30-3-2004, the land in question vested in the State free from all encumbrances by operation of Section 28(5) of the KIAD Act, whereas the land acquired under the said Act vests only Under Section 16 thereof, which runs as under: 16. Power to take possession.--When the Collector has made an award Under Section 11, he may take possession of the land, which shall thereupon vest absolutely in the Government, free from all encumbrances. 30. On a comparison of the aforesaid provisions, namely, Sections 28(4) and 28(5) of the KIAD Act with Section 16 of the said Act, it is clear that the land which is subject to acquis ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... suitable areas for industrial development and establish a board to develop such areas and make available lands therein for establishment of industries. 34. The KIAD Act is of course a self-contained code. The said Act is primarily a law regulating acquisition of land for public purpose and for payment of compensation. Acquisition of land under the said Act is not concerned solely with the purpose of planned development of any city. It has to cater to different situations which come within the expanded horizon of public purpose. Recently the Constitution Bench of this Court in Girnar Traders (3) v. State of Maharashtra [(2011) 3 SCC 1 : (2011) 1 SCC (Civ) 578: (2011) 1 Scale 223] held that Section 11-A of the said Act does not apply to acquisition under the provisions of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966. 35. The learned Counsel for the Appellant has relied on the judgment of this Court in Mariyappa v. State of Karnataka [(1998) 3 SCC 276]. The said decision was cited for the purpose of contending that Section 11-A is applicable to an acquisition under the KIAD Act. In Mariyappa [(1998) 3 SCC 276] before coming to hold that provision of Section 11A of the Central ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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