N. Manoj Kumar vs State of Kerala and The Managing Director

Pius C. Kuriakose, J.—The claimant is in appeal being aggrieved by what is described as inadequacy of the compensation redetermined by the Reference Court. The property was in Pettah village and acquisition was for expansion of International Airport, Thiruvananthapurm. Relevant Section 4(1) notification was published on 4/2/1999. The Land Acquisition Officer included the property in category 7 and awarded value at the rate of Rs. 66420/- per Are. The Reference Court, on evaluating the evidence, would refix the market value of the land under acquisition at Rs. 90,000/- per Are.

Several grounds have been raised in this appeal assailing the judgment of the Reference Court and Sri. P.A. Ahamed learned Counsel for the appellant addressed arguments based on those grounds. All the submissions of the learned Counsel for the appellant were resisted by Smt. R. Bindu, learned Government Pleader.

We have anxiously considered the submissions. We notice our own judgment in L.A.A. No.122/2008 which was in respect of property included in category 6 by the Land Acquisition Officer. We are of the view that there is justification for refixing the market value of the land under acquisition in this case at Rs. 1,20,000/- per Are. Accordingly, the value of land under acquisition is refixed at Rs. 1,20,000/- per Are. The appeal is allowed to the above extent.

The appellant will be entitled for all statutory benefits admissible u/s 23(2), 23(1A) and Section 28 of the Act on the total enhanced compensation to which he becomes eligible by virtue of this judgment.

However, while drafting the decree, the Section should have due regard to the conditions imposed by us in our order dated 14/7/2010 in CM. Apply No. 1465/2008. The parties are directed to suffer their respective costs.