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Judgment
Issue notice of the writ petition to the respondents in S.B. Civil Writ Petition No.10538/2017. Mr. Jagdish Vyas, who is already appearing for the
respondent RIICO in other similar matters, is directed to accept notice on its behalf in this matter too.
 All these writ petitions involve common questions of facts and law and are thus, being decided together by this single order.
It may be mentioned here for the sake of reference that nobody has put in appearance on behalf of the respondent No.4 Land Acquisition Officer
despite service of notice.
All the petitioners herein are all agricultural land holders in the areas of village Boranada, Salawas and Heera Khera, Tehsil Luni, District Jodhpur.
The lands of the petitioners were acquired by the respondent RIICO under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. The final award under
Section 4 of the Act of 1894 was passed on 24.09.2013. The petitioners received the compensation under protest and thereafter, filed objections
raising a plea that by the time, the compensation came to be disbursed to a majority of land holders, the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency
in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Act of 2013’) had come into force and thus, the
compensation payable to the petitioners was required to be assessed under the Act of 2013 in accordance with the proviso to Section 24 of the Act of
2013. A specific assertion is made by the petitioners in each of the writ petitions that the competent authority started disbursement of compensation to
the land owners from 01.01.2016 i.e. after enforcement of the Act of 2013 which came into effect on 01.01.2014. This specific assertion of the
petitioners is not disputed by the respondent RIICO in replies filed to each of the writ petitions.
Mr. Swami, learned counsel representing the petitioners places reliance on the notification dated 11.03.2014 issued by the State Government and urges
that the controversy at hand is squarely covered by the language of the notification dated 11.03.2014 which reads as under:
“;gkWa ;g mYys[kuh; gS fd ;fn vokMZ ikfjr gks pqdk gSa vkSj dqy vftZr Hkwfe ds vf/kdÙke fgrxzkfg;ksa ds [kkrs esa izfrdj dh jkfâ€k tek ugha
dh x;h gS rks vf/kfu;e] 1894 dh /kkjk 4 ds vUrxZr Hkw&vtZu ds fy, tkjh izkjafHkd lwpuk ds le; ds lHkh fgrxzkgh vf/kfu;e] 2013 ds izko/kkuksa ds
vuqlkj izfrdj izkIr djus ds gdnkj gksaxs vFkkZr~ ,sls ekeyksa esa izfrdj dk fu/kkZj.k vf/kfu;e] 2013 ds izko/kkuksa ds vuqlkj djrs gq, lHkh fgrxzkfg;ksa
dks Hkqxrku djuk gksxk A ;g Hkh Li’V fd;k tkrk gSa fd ftu fgrxzkfg;ksa dks izfrdj dh jkfâ€k iwoZ esa vf/kfu;e] 1894 ds vuqlkj ikfjr vokMZ ds
vuqdze esa Hkqxrku dh tk pqdh gSa] ,slh Hkqxrku dh x;h jkfâ€k dks vf/kfu;e] 2013 ds izko/kku ds vuqlkj laxf.kr jkfâ€k ls lek;ksftr djrs gq, “ks’k
jkfâ€k Hkqwxrku dh tk,xh A mijksDr izko/kkuksa ds lanHkZ esa vkidks mDrkuqlkj dk;Zokgh lqfufâ€pr djus gsrq funsZfâ€kr fd;k tkrk gSa Aâ€
Mr. Swami also places reliance on the order dated 22.01.2018 passed by Co-ordinate Bench of this Court in bunch of writ petitions led by S.B. Civil
Writ Petition No.11688/2016 (Vikas Construction Company vs. Union of India & Ors.) and urges that the petitioners are entitled to revised enhanced
compensation determined in accordance with the Act of 2013.
Though, learned counsel representing the respondents vehemently opposed the submissions advanced by Mr. Swami and also tried to distinguish the
judgment relied upon by him in support of his contentions but, they too are not in a position to dispute the admitted factual situation that the distribution
of compensation to the majority of the land-holders was indeed started after 01.01.2016.
The proviso to Section 24 of the Act of 2013 which governs the situation at hand is reproduced herein below for the sake of ready reference:
“Provided that where an award has been made and compensation in respect of a majority of land holding has not been deposited in the account of
the beneficiaries, then, all    beneficiaries specified in the notification for acquisition under section 4 of the said Land Acquisition Act, shall be
entitled to compensation in accordance with the provisions of this Act.
It is clear from a plain reading of the proviso that where an award has been made under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 and the compensation in
respect of majority of land holdings has not been deposited in the account of the beneficiaries till the date of coming into force of the Act of 2013 then,
all beneficiaries specified in the notification for acquisition under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 shall be entitled to compensation in lieu
of acquisition in accordance with the provisions of the Act of 2013. The State Government has also issued the above quoted notification in lines of this
proviso. The provision of law being unambiguous and the factual position regarding compensation in respect of majority of the land holdings not having
been deposited in the account of beneficiaries on the date of commencement of the Act of 2013 (01.01.2014) not being in dispute, it has to be held that
the petitioners and all other similar land holders referred to in the notification issued under Section 4 of the Act of 1894 are entitled to revision/re-
assessment of compensation in terms of the Act of 2013. Controversy exactly identical to the one involved in the matters at hand was decided by a
Coordinate Bench of this Court in the above bunch of writ petitions in the following terms:
“As observed earlier, the admitted position in these cases is that though the award was passed on 20.11.2014 but the sanction of compensation
amount was received only on 05.01.2015 and, therefore, it is clear that the compensation to the petitioners was not paid on or before 31.12.2014 and in
that situation as per the latest guidelines issued by the MoRTH on 28.12.2017, compensation would be payable to the petitioners in accordance with
the First Schedule of Acquisition Act of 2013.
In view of the above discussions, these writ petitions are disposed of with the direction to the respondents to redetermine the compensation amount,
awarded to the petitioners, and revise the award dated 20.11.2014 as per the First Schedule of the Acquisition Act of 2013 within a period of three
months from the date of production of certified copy of this order.â€
It is stated that the petitioners have already submitted applications to the Land Acquisition Officer for revision of the compensation payable to them in
accordance with the Act of 2013. Upon presentation of copy of this order, the Land Acquisition Officer, after objective consideration of the facts and
statistics available on record, shall re-assess and revise and pay enhanced compensation to the petitioners as per their entitlement under the Act of
2013. The entire exercise as directed above shall be completed within a period of ten weeks from the date of submission of copy of this order.
With these observations and directions, the writ petitions are allowed. Stay petitions are disposed of.
A copy of this order be placed in each file.