No award made under Section 11 of the 1894 Act – Compensation to be determined as per 2013 Act #indianlaws

Section 24(1)(a) of the 2013 Act provides that if no award under Section 11 of the 1894 Act has been made then all provisions of 2013 Act relating to determination of COMPENSATION ONLY shall apply
 

The Petitioners in the present matter challenged the acquisition proceedings and contended that acquisition stands lapsed under Section 24(2) of the 2013 Act. In the present case, although declaration under Section 6 of the 1894 Act was issued in the year 2012 but award was yet to be prepared. Compensation was paid to several tenure holders after entering with agreement between the tenure holders. The Petitioners since did not enter into agreement, no award was also made in their cases.

The Court distinguished the Pune Municipal Corporation’s case observed that for applicability of sub-section (2) of Section 24 of the 2013 Act, first condition is that award under Section 11 of the 1894 Act has been made five years or more prior to commencement of the 2013 Act. The 2013 Act came into effect from 1.1.2014. In the present case, since, admittedly the award was not made, the condition of applicability of sub-section (2) of Section 24 of the 2013 Act was not fulfilled. However, as further held, the Petitioners had filed the writ petition claiming that acquisition has lapsed under Section 24(2) of the 2013 Act and further sought that the Respondents be directed to provide compensation in accordance with the provisions of the 2013 Act, the writ petition could not be thrown on the ground that Petitioners have no cause of action.

After the enforcement of the 2013 Act, new rights and liabilities came into being between the parties. The notice under Section 9 of the 1894 Act was issued in January 2013 to which objections were filed by the petitioners instantly. The award admittedly was not made till date. The objections filed by Petitioners remained undecided for the period of more than one year and now it could not be said that Petitioners have no cause of action to pray for direction to the Respondents to proceed under the 2013 Act.

Section 24(1)(a) of the 2013 Act provides that if no award under Section 11 of the 1894 Act has been made then all provisions of 2013 Act relating to determination of compensation shall apply and hence Section 24(1)(a) was held to be applicable in the present case. Accordingly it was held that determination of compensation has to be made in accordance with Section 24(1)(a) of the 2013 Act.

[Shah Mohamd and Others vs. Union of India and Ors.]
Allahabad HC, 25.03.2014