Amsavalli.K v. The District Revenue Officer
BEFORE THE MADURAI BENCH OF MADRAS HIGH COURT DATED : 12.03.2024
CORAM
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE G.R.SWAMINATHAN WP(MD)No.5648 of 2024 1.K.Amsavalli 2.Saravanan 3.Sulochana 4.G.Tamilselvan 5.Veerakumar 6.M.Navaneetha Krishnan 7.Josh T.Kuriakosh 8.Kannamani 9.Nehrudasan 10.P.Kannan 11.T.A.Samson 12.S.Abraham 13.Karpagam 14.M.Duraikannan 15.Gejeswari 16.Vijaykumar 17.Parthiban 1/8
18.G.Thiyagarajan 19.S.Rajasekar 20.Radha 21.Leema 22.P.Sarathambal 23.M.Anand 24.B.Karthikeyan 25.Peter Praveeen 26.Pushpanathan 27.Amalanathan 28.Julie Catharine 29.D.Saravanan 30.Ramanujam 31.Sankaran 32.C.Arivazhagan 33.Rajalakshmi 34.P.Saravanan 35.Valliammal 36.K.Suresh 37.Karuppaiya 38.Dhamodharan 39.Manimekalai 2/8
40.M.Savarimuthu 41.Christy 42.Edward Arokiyaraj 43.Gokul 44.Valarmathi 45.Thenmozhi 46.N.Tamizharasi 47.Srinivasan 48.K.Ramachandran 49.M.Valliammal 50.J.Ravichandran 51.Vidhyasagar 52.Kathiresan 53.Selvaraj 54.Sivakumar 55.Mohamed Farook 56.V.Saminathan 57.Selva Sabarirajan 58.P.Gracy 59.B.Saravanan 60.V.Muthuramalingam 61.G.Senthilkumar 3/8
62.Ambika 63.Prakash 64.Suresh 65.Saffiya Beevi 66.Saroja 67.V.Ramachandran 68.Meyyanathan 69.Louis Ponnusamy 70.Britto Xavier 71.T.Sivakumar 72.K.V.Revathi 73.J.Saravanan 74.Subramaniya Sharma 75.Saharban Begam 76.Yagappa Philominraj ... Petitioners Vs.
1.The District Revenue Officer, Land Acquisition, Collector Office, Thanjavur. 2.The Divisional Engineer, Highways Nabard and Rural Roads, Thanjavur.
... Respondents Prayer : Writ petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, 4/8
to issue a Writ of Mandamus to direct the first respondent to refer the Award No.8 of 2013, affecting the petitioners herein, to a competent Civil Court for enhancement of compensation as per Revalidation Act, 2019 with refererence to Act 30 of 2013, within the time frame to be fixed by this Court.
For Petitioner : Mr.V.Ramesh for Mr.V.Balaji For Respondents : Mr.A.Kannan, Additional Government Pleader
ORDER
Heard both sides.
2.The lands belonging to the petitioners herein were acquired under the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Act 34 of 2002. Common award was passed on 30.12.2013. The specific case of the petitioners is that copy of the award was not served on them. To a specific question posed by the court, the learned Additional Government Pleader is unable to give any definite answer. Section 19(1) of the Tamil Nadu Highways Act, 2001 reads as follows :
"19(1)Where any land is acquired by the Government under this Act, the Government shall pay an amount for such acquisition, which shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of this section.
(2)Where the amount has been determined by agreement between the Government and the person to whom 5/8
the amount has to be paid, it shall be paid in accordance with such agreement.
(3)Where no such agreement can be reached, the Government shall refer the case to the Collector for determination of the amount to be paid for such acquisition as also the person or persons to whom such amount shall be paid.
Provided that no amount exceeding such amount as the Government may, by general or special order, specify to be paid for such acquisition shall be determined by the Collector without the previous approval of the Government or such officer as the Government may appoint in this behalf." 3.Since proof is not forthcoming as to the service of the award on the petitioners herein, the petitioners herein are permitted to submit a common application to the first respondent within a period of two weeks from the date of receipt of copy of this order. On such application being filed, the first respondent is directed to refer the matter to the jurisdictional court within a period of three weeks thereafter. Reference will be entertained and taken on file immediately by the court concerned. Since the matter dates back to the year 2013, the reference court shall endeavor to answer the reference and determine the amount payable to the petitioners as expeditiously as possible. 6/8
4.This writ petition is disposed of. No costs. 12.03.2024 Internet : Yes/No Index : Yes/No skm To 1.The District Revenue Officer, Land Acquisition, Collector Office, Thanjavur. 2.The Divisional Engineer, Highways Nabard and Rural Roads, Thanjavur.
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G.R.SWAMINATHAN, J.
SKM WP(MD)No.5648 of 2024 12.03.2024 8/8