Full Bench summarises law on Land acquisition awards

Full Bench of Bombay High Court has held that if the possession is taken before the Section 4(1)of the Land Acquisition Act is published and/or before the award is passed, the land­ owner would been titled for interest as per Section 34 necessarily from the date of passing of the award under Section 11 of the said Act, except in cases where the possession is taken in accordance with Section 17 of the said Act, and in that situation only, the provision of Section 34 of the said Act shall start operating from the date of possession. Full Bench comprising of Justices B.P. Dharmadhikari, R.K.Deshpande and P.N Deshmukh answering the reference made to it, also summarised the position of law in this regard. The Bench observed as follows. If the possession of the land under acquisition is taken under Section 16 of the said Act i.e. after an award is made by the Collector under Section 11 therein,the interest would be payable under Section 34 from the date of passing of the award The interest as provided under Section 34 of the said Act shall start running from the date of possession only if the possession is taken by the Collector in exercise of his powers under Section 17 of the said Act which would obviously be after issuance of notice under Section 9(1) of the said Act.If the possession is taken under Section 17, the interest payable under Section 34 of the said Act shall start running from the date of possession and not from the date of award. Where the possession of the land under acquisition is taken prior to issuance of notification under Section 4(1), then there would be no question of invoking the urgency clause under Section 17 of the said Act and the interest under Section 34 shall start running from the date of passing of the award. The starting point for the purposes of calculating the amount of additional component under Section 23(1¬A) of the said Act at the rate of twelve per centum per annum is the date of publication of the notification under Section 4 of the said Act, and the terminal point is either the date of the award or the date of taking possession, whichever is earlier In none of the eventualities, the claimant shall be entitled to interest under Section 34 of the said Act from the date of publication of the notification under Section 4(1) of the said Act. There is no overlapping of the benefits under Section 23(1-A) and Section 34 of the said Act.The terminal points under Section 23(1¬A) are the starting points under Section 34 of the said Act and both the provisions operate in different fields. where possession is taken prior to issuance of notification under Section 4(1)of the said Act, the interest under Section 34 shall start running from the date of award only.