CA NO. ….. OF 2017 @ SLP (C) NO.30562 OF 2016

REPORTABLE IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CIVIL APPEAL NO.   9288   OF 2017 {Arising out of SLP(C) No.30562 of 2016}

K. SUBBARAYUDU AND OTHERS    ...Appellants

Versus  

THE SPECIAL DEPUTY COLLECTOR (LAND ACQUISITION)            ...Respondent

O R D E R

R. BANUMATHI, J.

Leave granted

2. This  appeal  by  way  of  special  leave  under  Section  54  of  the  Land

Acquisition  Act,  1894  has  been  preferred  by  the  claimant  assailing  the

judgment  and  order  dated  12.07.2016  in  L.A.A.S.M.P.  No.61  of  2015  in

L.A.A.S.(SR) No.12334 of 2014 passed by the High Court of Judicature at

Hyderabad for the State of Telangana and the State of Andhra Pradesh by

which the High Court declined to condone the delay of 3671 days in filing the

appeal and dismissed the appeal.   

3. A Notification under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 was

issued on 01.10.1990 for acquiring land to an extent of Acs.32.77 in Reach

No.11 of Nellepalli  village for foreshore submersion of Kandaleru Reservoir

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under  Telugu  Ganga  Project.  After  conducting  the  award  enquiry,  Land

Acquisition Officer, Telugu Ganga Project, Rapur passed an award, in Award

No.12/91-92  dated  30.01.1992.   The  award  was  passed  after  taking  into

account the sale statistics for the preceding three years prior to the date of

notification under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act which was obtained

from the Sub-Registrar, Rapur and after verification of all sales, the land value

is fixed by the Land Acquisition Officer and approved by the Special Collector,

Telugu  Ganga  Project,  Nellore  as  per  norms  prescribed  under  the  Land

Acquisition Act, 1894 amended in 1984.  The Land Acquisition Officer (LAO)

awarded compensation for cultivable dry lands at Rs.9,000/- per acre and for

cultivable waste land at Rs.7,000/- per acre. The Land Acquisition Officer also

awarded compensation of Rs.50-70 for each lime tree and compensation of

Rs.32  for  each  pomegranate  tree.  The  land  was  taken  possession  on

02.03.1994 and compensation paid to the land owners.

4. As  against  compensation  awarded  by  the  Land  Acquisition  Officer,

reference was made under Section 18 of the Act to the Senior Civil Judge,

Gudur.  Before the reference court,  on behalf  of  the claimants,  CW-1 was

examined and Exs.A1 to A5 were marked.  On behalf of the referring officer,

one of its employees was examined as R.W.1 and the particulars showing the

compensation awarded by the LAO, Ex.B1 was marked. The Reference Court

by its  judgment and order dated 06.08.2004 in LAOP No.22/1993 enhanced

the market value of land from Rs.9,000/- to Rs.12,000/- for cultivable dry land

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and to Rs.7000/- to Rs.10000/- for cultivable waste land per acre.  Further the

Reference Court fixed the market value of the trees to Rs.100/- per tree as

against  Rs.50/-  to  Rs.70/-  awarded  by  the  Land  Acquisition  Officer  and

confirmed the  rate  of  Rs.32/-  per  pomegranate  tree  as  fixed  by the  Land

Acquisition Officer basing on the age of the trees.   

5. Dissatisfied with the enhanced compensation, the appellants/claimants

approached the High Court referring to the order in A.S. No.1749/2004 dated

01.03.2013 and other judgments of Andhra Pradesh High Court.  However,

there was a delay of 3671 days in so preferring the appeal. The High Court

dismissed L.A.A.S.(MP) No.61/2015 in L.AA.S. (SR) No.12334/2014 on the

ground of inordinate delay of 3671 days since the High Court was of the view

that  no sufficient  cause  was shown for  the  delay and held  that  the delay

sought to be condoned was not on account of a  bona fide mistake but was

merely  intended  to  make  gain  basing  on  the  assessment  of  value  of

pomegranate  trees  in  the  decisions  of  Peddireddy  Madhava  Reddy and

Pidugu Seshugari Lakshmi Devi.

6. Aggrieved by the order of the High Court, the appellants are before us

by way of special leave to appeal.

7. The learned counsel for the appellants submitted that the High Court

failed to appreciate that the claimants have given satisfactory explanation for

the delay of 3671 days in filing the appeal before the High Court and while so

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the High Court has erred in declining to condone the delay.  It  was further

submitted that in L.A.S.S.No.46/2015, the High Court was pleased to condone

the delay of 3386 days in filing the land acquisition appeal suit subject to the

condition that in the event, the appellants/claimants succeed in the appeal,

she is not entitled to any interest in respect of the period of delay and the

same approach ought to have been given in case of appellants also. In so far

as the quantum of compensation, learned counsel for the appellant has relied

upon the decision of this Court in Civil Appeal Nos.11404-405 of 2016 dated

29.11.2016 whereby this Court has awarded compensation of Rs.3,000/- per

pomegranate tree in  connection with  lands acquired for  Somashila  Project

submergence.  The learned counsel for the appellant prayed that the same

amount of compensation of Rs.3,000/- per pomegranate tree be awarded to

the appellant.

8. Per  contra,  supporting  the  judgment  of  the  High  Court,  the  learned

counsel for the respondent submitted that reason for inordinate delay of 3671

days was not satisfactorily explained and the High Court rightly exercised its

discretion in declining to condone the delay. Insofar as the judgment in Civil

Appeal Nos.11404-11405 of 2016 is concerned, it is submitted that the said

order relates to Somashila Project submergence of which the award was of

the year 1999 and the same cannot be applied to the present case.

9. Heard the learned counsel for the parties at some length.  Perused the

impugned  judgment  and  considered  the  documents  and  other  materials

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placed on record.

10. The High Court dismissed the claimants’ appeal mainly on the ground of

delay of 3671 days in filing the appeal.  On perusal of records, it is seen that

the appellants have explained the reason for the delay in filing the appeal

stating that they have entrusted the relevant papers to their co-villager namely,

viz., Pullaiah who is well-conversant with the court proceedings and the said

Pullaiah has also taken steps to engage an advocate at Hyderabad and the

said Pullaiah informed that the appeal was filed and left for Kuwait to eke out

his livelihood. Thus the appellants/claimants were under the impression that

the appeal has been filed.  The claimants have further stated that when they

inquired the said Pullaiah, he informed them that he went to the house of Sri

Jaganmohan Raju, Advocate and he learnt that the said Advocate is no more

and expired in 2012 itself and on enquiry with the clerk of the said advocate,

he learnt that no appeal has been filed and this has caused a delay of 3671

days in filing the appeal.  The High Court rejected the explanation given by the

appellants on the ground that there are contradictions between the affidavit

filed by the said Pullaiah and the stand of the claimants and being not satisfied

with the reason for the delay of 3671 days in preferring the appeal, the High

Court dismissed the appeal.  

11. Before  the  High  Court,  the  appellants  relied  upon  Yellasiri

Sarojanamma’s  case, in L.A.S.S.  No.46 of  2015, in which the High Court

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condoned the delay of  3386 days in  filing  the land acquisition  appeal  suit

subject  to  the  condition  that  in  the  event,  the  appellant/claimant  thereon

succeed in appeal, she is not entitled to any interest in respect of the period of

delay.  The appellants contended that the same approach ought to have been

adopted in the case of appellants also.  Insofar as, the reliance placed upon

by  the  claimants  in  L.A.S.S.  No.46/2015,  the  High  Court  seems  to  have

brushed aside the contention of the appellants on the puerile ground that the

relevant fact situation in the said case is not forthcoming in the said order.  In

our view, the High Court was not right in adopting a different yardstick in the

case of the appellants in not condoning the delay.   

12. The term “sufficient  cause”  is  to  receive liberal  construction so as to

advance substantial justice, when no negligence, inaction or want of bona fide

is  attributable  to  the  appellants,  the  Court  should  adopt  a  justice-oriented

approach in condoning the delay. In  State of Nagaland v. Lipok AO and

Others (2005) 3 SCC 752: 2005 (4) JT 10, it was held as under:-

“Section 5 is to be construed liberally so as to do substantial justice to the parties.   The provision  contemplates  that  the court  has to  go into  the position of the person concerned and to find out if the delay can be said to have been resulted from the cause which he had adduced and whether the cause recorded in the peculiar circumstances of the case is sufficient”.

13. With the acquisition of lands, the lifeline of the agriculturist is lost. There

may be omission on the part of the claimants to adopt extra vigilance; but

same need not be used as a ground to depict them with negligence or want of

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bona fide. In case of acquisition of lands of agriculturists, the courts ought to

adopt a pragmatic approach to award just and reasonable compensation and

not pedantic in their approach.  In  Dhiraj Singh (D) Thr. Lrs. Etc. Etc. v.

Haryana State and Ors. Etc. Etc.  2014 (9) SCALE 441,  it  was held as

under:-

“15. Equities can be balanced by denying the appellants’ interest for the period for  which  they  did  not  approach  the  Court.   The  substantive  rights  of  the appellants should not be allowed to be defeated on technical grounds by taking hyper technical view of self-imposed limitations.  In the matter of compensation for land acquisition, we are of the view that approach of the Court has to be pragmatic and not pedantic.”

14. When the concerned court has exercised its discretion either condoning

or declining to condone the delay, normally the superior court will not interfere

in exercise of such discretion.  The true guide is whether the litigant has acted

with due diligence. Since the appellants/claimants are the agriculturists whose

lands were  acquired and  when similar  situated  agriculturists  were  given  a

higher rate of compensation, there is no reason to decline the same to the

appellants. Merely on the ground of delay such benefit cannot be denied to

the  appellants.   The  interest  of  justice  would  be  served  by  declining  the

interest on the enhanced compensation and also on the  solatium and other

statutory benefits for the period of delay.  

15. Insofar as the compensation for the pomegranate trees, the appellants

have placed reliance on the judgment of this Court dated 29.11.2016, in C.A.

Nos.11404-11405 of 2016.  Planting, raising and making commercial use of

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fruit bearing trees is a painstaking affair and cost of the same is consistently

on rise as the years are passing by which is to be kept in view. Award of

compensation  in  relation  to  fruit  bearing  trees  depends  on  facts  and

circumstances of each case.  It  has been held in  Kerala State Electricity

Board v. Livisha and Ors.  (2007) 6 SCC 792, in the following terms:

“11.  So  far  as  the  compensation  in  relation  to  fruit  bearing  trees  are concerned the same would also depend upon the facts and circumstances of each case. We may, incidentally, refer to a recent decision of this Court in Land Acquisition Officer v. Kamandana Ramakrishna Rao AIR 2007 SC 1142  wherein  claim  on  yield  basis  has  been  held  to  be  relevant  for determining  the  amount  of  compensation  payable  under  the  Land Acquisition Act, same principle has been reiterated in Kapur Singh Mistry v. Financial Commission and Revenue Secretary to Govt. of Punjab and Ors. , State of Haryana v. Gurcharan Singh and Anr. [1995] 1 SCR 408, and Airports Authority of India v. Satyagopal Roy [2002] 2 SCR 505.”  

16. In the facts and circumstances of the said case, in C.A. Nos.11404-405

of 2016, considering the cost of planting and efforts involved in growing trees

in general and in particular raising the pomegranate trees over the efflux of

time, this Court deemed it appropriate to award Rs.3,000/- as compensation

for each of the pomegranate tree.

17. However, the compensation of Rs. 3000/- per pomegranate tree, as has

been awarded in the abovementioned case, cannot be made applicable to the

present  case,  considering  the  fact  that  award  of  compensation  by  Land

Acquisition Officer in the said case dated 08.03.1999, as opposed to award in

the present case which is dated 30.01.1992.  A period of about seven years is

a considerable period to be taken note of while computing cost of planting and

raising fruit bearing trees.  It is obvious that seven years back a fruit bearing

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tree would have fetched lesser income than it would fetch now.  In the facts

and circumstances of the present case and taking into consideration that the

appellants  were  also  awarded  compensation  for  the  land,  we  deem  it

appropriate to award compensation of Rs.1500/- for each pomegranate tree.   

18. In  so  far  as  the  lime trees  are  concerned,  fresh  limes are  available

throughout the year and have good market and the lime trees are earning

income  almost  throughout  the  year.  The  Reference  Court  enhanced  the

compensation of Rs.70/- to Rs.100/- per tree as against the compensation of

Rs.52/- to Rs.70/- awarded by the Land Acquisition Officer.  While considering

the question of  awarding compensation to lime trees,  in  Shaik Imambi v.

Special Deputy Collector (Land Acquisiton), Telugu Ganga Project (2011)

11 SCC 639, this Court held as under:-

“10. There is no specific documentary evidence in regard to the actual income  from  the  orchard.  As  the  reports  of  experts  of  the  state government  assessed  the  gross  annual  income  from  each  tree  as Rs.150-200/-, it would be appropriate to take the average thereof, namely Rs.175/- as the annual income per tree in this case. If Rs.35/- is deducted towards the cost of cultivation and other expenses as recommended by the experts, the net annual income would have been Rs.140/- per tree or Rs.1,06,540/- for 761 trees.”

Applying the ratio of the above decision, Rs.250/- is awarded as the annual

income per tree.  Compensation of Rs.100/- per each lime tree enhanced to

Rs.250/- is awarded.

19. Compensation awarded to the appellants is enhanced to Rs.1,500/- for

each pomegranate tree and Rs.250/- for each lime tree.  The appellants are

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also  entitled  to  all  statutory  benefits  like  solatium  and  other  benefits  and

interest on the same.  It  is further directed that the appellants shall not be

entitled to any interest during the period of delay of 3671 days. The appeal is

partly allowed in the above terms.  Parties are to bear their respective costs.

..……………………….J.    [KURIAN JOSEPH]  

                            .………………………..J.  [R. BANUMATHI]

New Delhi; July 19, 2017

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