TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2013 (4) TMI 17
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....4 read with Section 17 of the Act, Notification dated 20.09.1990 was issued and published by the State Government for the acquisition of the lands of the appellants. Subsequently, a declaration dated 10.06.1991 was published in the Gazette, under Section 6 of the Act. The lands acquired were taken physical possession by the State Government. In accordance with Section 11 of the Act, the Land Acquisition Officer [hereinafter referred to as the LAO'] assessed the market value of the acquired lands at Rs. 80 per sq. meter vide order dated 18.09.1993 as compensation. Dissatisfied with the award of the LAO, the land owners filed objections, inter-alia claiming that the market value of the acquired lands is Rs. 1000 per sq. meter, due to the proximity of the lands to the city of Moradabad. After scrutinizing the evidence on record, the Reference Court had come to the conclusion that the market value of the nearby land was Rs. 550 per sq. meter, however, taking into consideration the location and potentiality of the lands and also proximity of the lands from the city of Moradabad and other relevant factors, enhanced the compensation awarded to Rs. 270 per sq. meter. The State preferred ap....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....a small extent, which was not distant from the acquired lands, to borrow the language of the Awarding Officer. We are inclined to see some force in the stand adopted by the High Court that the Awarding Officer himself had been generous in his award. Since he has adopted such a rate, the question is whether this Court should interfere with the decision of the High Court restoring that Award or award any further compensation. 16. The scope of interference by this Court was delineated by the decision in Kanta Prasad Singh v. State of Bihar wherein this Court held that there was an element of guess work inherent in most cases involving determination of the market value of the acquired land. If the judgment of the High Court revealed that it had taken into consideration the relevant factors prescribed by the Act, in appeal under Article 133 of the Constitution of India, assessment of market value thus made should not be disturbed by the Supreme Court. For the purpose of deciding whether we should interfere, we have taken note of the position adopted by the Awarding Officer, the stand adopted by the Reference Court and the relevant aspects discussed by the High Court. On such appreciati....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... erroneous approach or employed the wrong principles in regard to the claim for enhancement of compensation, or that, it has so erred as to warrant interference under Article 136 of the Constitution of India. 10) A review petition filed by the appellants therein was also dismissed by this Court. 11) Shri. M.L. Varma, learned senior counsel, submits that the findings and the conclusions in the judgment of this Court in the case of Gafar are flawed for the reason that the exemplars relied on for deciding the compensation was for inundated land, and hence, the same could not reflect the true value of the land. He further submits that relevant sale deeds were not taken into consideration by the Court while concluding that the Reference Court had erred in enhancing the compensation and that the High Court was correct in setting aside the same. The learned senior counsel also submits that this Court should have remanded the matters to the High Court in the case of Gafar, as the High Court, being the first appellate Court, was required to give a reasoned judgment while allowing appeals against the order of the Reference Court enhancing the compensation. In the alternative, Shri. Varma c....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....hat this Court has already dealt with the merits of the matter at length in the case of Gafar and the same need not be gone into, once over, again by this Court. With regard to the point of non-listing of cases, the learned counsel contends that the cause lists are prepared under the authority of Hon'ble the Chief Justice of the High Court, and it was not the practice of the Court to send the files of matters that were not listed, to the Court Hall, let alone hear them and dispose them of. 14) Having carefully considered the submissions of the learned senior counsel Shri Varma, we are of the view that the judgment in Gafar's case does not require reconsideration by this Court. In Gafar's case, this Court had meticulously examined all the legal contentions canvassed by the parties to the lis and had come to the conclusion that the High Court has not committed any error which warrants interference. In the present appeals, the challenge is for the compensation assessed for the lands notified and acquired under the same notification pertaining to the same villages. Therefore, it would not be proper for us to take a different view, on the ground that what was considered by this Court w....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....tioners. This challenge was accepted by the High Court by a common judgment and it was this common judgment that was the subject-matter of appeal before this Court in Hansa Corporation case. When the Supreme Court repelled the challenge and held the Act constitutionally valid, it in terms disposed of not the appeal in Hansa Corporation case alone, but petitions in which the High Court issued mandamus on the non-existent ground that the 1979 Act was constitutionally invalid. It is, therefore, idle to contend that the law laid down by this Court in that judgment would bind only the Hansa Corporation and not the other petitioners against whom the State of Karnataka had not filed any appeal. To do so is to ignore the binding nature of a judgment of this Court under Article 141 of the Constitution. Article 141 reads as follows: "The law declared by the Supreme Court shall be binding on all courts within the territory of India. A mere reading of this article brings into sharp focus its expanse and its all pervasive nature. In cases like this, where numerous petitions are disposed of by a common judgment and only one appeal is filed, the parties to the common judgment could very well hav....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....equently declared constitutionally valid by this Court. The Act, therefore, was under an eclipse, for a short duration; but with the declaration of the law by this Court, the temporary shadow cast on it by the mandamus disappeared and the Act revived with its full vigour, the constitutional invalidity held by the High Court having been removed by the judgment of this Court. If the law so declared invalid is held constitutionally valid, effective and binding by the Supreme Court, the mandamus forbearing the authorities from enforcing its provisions would become ineffective and the authorities cannot be compelled to perform a negative duty. The declaration of the law is binding on everyone and it is therefore, futile to contend that the mandamus would survive in favour of those parties against whom appeals were not filed. 25. The fallacy of the argument can be better illustrated by looking at the submissions made from a slightly different angle. Assume for argument's sake that the mandamus in favour of the appellants survived notwithstanding the judgment of this Court. How do they enforce the mandamus? The normal procedure is to move the Court in contempt when the parties against wh....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....under Article 141 would, therefore, extend to all observations of points raised and decided by the Court in a given case..." 19) The position was made clear by the decision of this Court in the case of Union of India v. Krishan Lal Arneja, (2004) 8 SCC 453. In this case, 14 properties were notified for acquisition under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1898. Only two persons, namely Banwari Lal & Sons and Shakuntala Gupta, had previously challenged the validity of the acquisition by filing writ petitions before the High Court and having the cases decided in their favour finally by this Court. This Court held that the decisions in the earlier cases were a binding precedent for this subsequent appeal that was preferred by the Union of India. This Court held: "12. The decision in Banwari Lal and Shakuntala Gupta of this Court in relation to the same notification may not be binding on the principle of res judicata. The argument, however, cannot be accepted that those decisions are not binding being property-specific in those cases. In our considered opinion, the decisions are binding as precedents on the question of validity of the notification, which invokes urgency c....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....quent Division Bench of the same or a smaller number of Judges and in order that such decision be binding, it is not necessary that it should be a decision rendered by the Full Court or a Constitution Bench of this Court. Judicial decorum and certainty of law require a Division Bench to follow the decision of another Division Bench and of a larger Bench and, even if, the reasons to be stated, a different view was necessitated, the matter should be only referred to Hon'ble The Chief Justice for referring the question to a larger Bench. 23) The learned senior counsel emphasizes the fact that the present appellants were not heard when the appeals were decided by the High Court, due to non-listing or disposal of the matters when their counsel had submitted illness slip and was not present in Court. He further states that in several cases, the appellants had died, and the applications for substitution of legal heirs were filed by the Development Authority, which were pending in all but in one case. In the one case [presently numbered as C.A. No. 5421/2006], Shri. Varma states that the application was dismissed by the Court. He contends that the rules of natural justice of providing a f....