Anand Singh Negi vs State of Uttarakhand & others

The petitioner who is an Ex-Army man has filed the present writ petition before this Court with the prayer that his Bhumidari land was forcibly acquired by the State Government for construction of a motor road and consequently about 900 square feet land was acquired, which had many fruit bearing trees as well, for which no compensation has been paid to him. The land of the petitioner was acquired way back in the year 1981.

In the counter affidavit, it has been admitted that petitioner''s land was acquired and it has further been stated that a total compensation of land and trees were assessed at Rs.39,906/-. However, the petitioner has refused to accept the cheque. This cheque was prepared on 29.03.2001.

Although the matter is highly belated and this writ petition was liable to be dismissed on the ground of laches alone but considering that there is now an admission on the part of the respondents that they have acquired the land of the petitioner as well as they have calculated the compensation of Rs.39,906/-, which the petitioner refused to collect in the year 2001, atleast this amount is liable to be given to the

petitioner. Another aspect would be that the land of the petitioner was acquired in the year 1981 and hence, the compensation was prepared only in the year 2001. Therefore, the amount of Rs.39,906/- has to be given to the petitioner along with an interest, which has to be calculated from 1981 to 2001 at a reasonable rate of 7% per annum. Let the amount be paid by the respondents to the petitioner within a period of six weeks from the date of production of a certified copy of this order.

In view of the aforesaid, the writ petition stands disposed.