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Citation Codes
Equivalent Citations
citation codes
Case Number
Attorney(S)
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Acts
  • s. 4 (1) of the land acquisition act
  • s. 54 of the land acquisition act
  • s. 32 of the land acquisition act
  • "the land acquisition act in s. 53
  • s. 18 of the land acquisition act
  • s. 53 of the land acquisition act
  • 0. 47, R. 1, Sub - rule (2)
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Cites
Cited by
Citation Codes
Equivalent Citations
citation codes
Case Number
Attorney(S)
Judges
Acts
  • s. 4 (1) of the land acquisition act
  • s. 54 of the land acquisition act
  • s. 32 of the land acquisition act
  • "the land acquisition act in s. 53
  • s. 18 of the land acquisition act
  • s. 53 of the land acquisition act
  • 0. 47, R. 1, Sub - rule (2)
Smart Summary

Structured Summary of the Opinion

Factual and Procedural Background

5656 square feet of land from t. S. 211 of the Kozhikode municipality were acquired for construction of a bus-stand. At the time of acquisition there were 12 buildings on the acquired property bearing door numbers 1227 to 1238; these buildings were constructed by the kanam-tenants. The notification under s. 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act was dated 24/12/1952.

Several applications for reference under s. 18 of the Land Acquisition Act were filed:

  • The jenmi, Tholappurath Balalakshmi Amma, filed LAOP 113 of 1955; the learned subordinate judge enhanced the land value to Rs. 1000 per cent. The kanam tenants were not made parties to LAOP 113 of 1955. A.S. No. 724 of 1963 was filed by the State against that award.
  • A kanam tenant owner of buildings nos. 1229 and 1231–1234 filed LAOP 109 of 1955; the subordinate judge awarded Rs. 54,225 by capitalising 9 months' rent at 25 times. A.S. 38 of 1964 was filed by the State against that award.
  • A kanam tenant owner of building no. 1235 filed LAOP 128 of 1955; the subordinate judge awarded compensation by capitalising at 20 times and, including solatium, awarded Rs. 12,420. A.S. 98 of 1964 was filed by the State against that award.

The court first considered A.S. 38 of 1964 (the appeal against the award in LAOP 109 of 1955) because a review petition had been filed in the subordinate court and a fresh award had been passed before the appellate adjudication was completed.

Legal Issues Presented

  1. Whether an appeal in this Court (A.S. 38 of 1964) becomes infructuous if the trial/subordinate court allows a petition for review and passes a fresh award before the appeal is finally disposed of.
  2. Whether a court exercising jurisdiction under the Land Acquisition Act has power to entertain a petition for review of its award — in particular, whether s. 53 of the Land Acquisition Act and the provisions of Order 47, Rule 1 of the Civil Procedure Code render review proceedings available.
  3. Whether Order 47, Rule 1, Sub-rule (2) CPC bars the filing or maintainability of a review petition where an appeal has been (or will be) filed by the same party.
  4. Whether the State's plea that a claim for enhancement of land value is barred by s. 25(3) of the Land Acquisition Act (as argued in A.S. No. 724 of 1963) is tenable.
  5. Whether the compensation calculation by capitalisation at 20 times (as in LAOP 128 of 1955, challenged in A.S. No. 98 of 1964) was correct.

Arguments of the Parties

Respondent's / Award-holder's Objections

  • The respondent contended that the appeal (A.S. 38 of 1964) had become infructuous because the trial court had allowed a review petition and passed a fresh award, thereby superseding the award under appeal.

Appellant (State) / Advocate General

  • The Advocate General argued that the review petition was incompetent and proceedings founded on it were void because the Land Acquisition Act does not expressly empower a court to review an award; therefore the variation of the award was without jurisdiction and the appeal should be heard on the merits.
  • The Advocate General relied on the wording of Order 47, Rule 1 CPC and on s. 54 of the Land Acquisition Act (which expressly provides for appeals), contending that if a right of review were intended it would have been expressly provided in the statute.
  • The Advocate General relied upon the decision in Mulambath Kunhammad v. Parakkat Kathiri Kutti (31 MLJ 827) to support the contention that review provisions of the CPC were inapplicable to awards under the Land Acquisition Act.
  • He further argued, invoking Order 47, Rule 1, Sub-rule (2), that a party who is appealing cannot maintain a review petition when the appeal grounds are the same (or because of the interplay of review and appeal procedures).
  • In A.S. No. 724 of 1963 the State argued that the claim for enhancement was barred by s. 25(3) of the Land Acquisition Act.

Other Contentions Noted by the Court

  • It was pointed out that an appeal could be filed in this Court while a petition for review was pending in the subordinate court, but the central question was the effect of allowance of the review petition before the appeal was disposed of.

Table of Precedents Cited

Precedent Rule or Principle Cited For Application by the Court
Mulambath Kunhammad v. Parakkat Kathiri Kutti, 31 MLJ 827 Held (per Srinivasa Aiyangar, J.) that provisions of the CPC relating to review may be inapplicable to proceedings under the Land Acquisition Act because proceedings before the court end with the award. The court rejected this interpretation for the present case, finding it inconsistent with other authorities and with the treatment of certain land acquisition decisions as decrees.
Sakti Narain Singh v. Bir Singh, 1920 Patna 743 Held that s. 53 of the Land Acquisition Act permits application of Order 47 of the CPC and that the district judge had power to entertain a petition under Order 47. The court followed this decision and held that a petition to review an award is maintainable because of s. 53.
Rangoon Bototoung Co. Ltd. v. Collector of Rangoon, ILR 40 Cal. 21 Concerned whether an appeal lay to the Privy Council from a decree of the High Court in a land acquisition proceeding. The court held this decision irrelevant to the present questions about review jurisdiction under s. 53 and Order 47.
Punjab Singh Bank Ltd. v. Ram Kishen, AIR 1916 Lahore 173 Illustrated the principle that when an appellate court is seized and can grant relief the applicant should approach the appellate court rather than the subordinate court. The court explained that this authority relates to petitions for review filed after an appeal; it does not render a review petition already filed invalid. The court distinguished and did not accept this as a bar to the pending review.
Shidramappa v. Gurushantappa, AIR 1929 Bombay 183 Authority for the proposition that if a decree is vacated by a petition for review, any appeal preferred against that decree can no longer be prosecuted. The court cited this authority (among others) to support the conclusion that the appeal became infructuous once the decree was vacated by review.
Aditya Kumar v. Abinash Chandra, AIR 1931 Cal. 323 Same proposition as above regarding vacatur of decree by review rendering pending appeals incompetent. Cited in support of the conclusion that the appeal could not be prosecuted after the review succeeded and a fresh award was passed.
Vadilal v. Fulchand, ILR 30 Bombay 56 Authority supporting the rule that vacatur of a decree by review defeats pending appeals against that decree. Relied upon as additional authority for the court's holding that the appeal had become infructuous.
Md. Rowther v. Swaminatha Mudaliar, AIR 1936 Madras 464 Another authority for the principle that a decree vacated on review prevents prosecution of an appeal against it. Cited alongside other authorities to justify dismissing the appeal as infructuous.

Court's Reasoning and Analysis

The court's reasoning proceeds in distinct steps:

  1. On A.S. 38 of 1964: The court analysed the procedural sequence — an award dated (as stated in the record) and a review petition filed subsequently in the subordinate court which was allowed and resulted in a fresh award before the appeal in this Court was disposed of. The court held that although an appeal can be filed while a review petition is pending, when the subordinate court allows the review petition and thereby vacates or supersedes the decree/award, the appeal against the earlier award becomes incompetent and cannot be prosecuted on the merits. The court concluded that A.S. 38 could not be further prosecuted.
  2. On the contention that review power is absent under the Land Acquisition Act: The Advocate General's submission relied on (a) absence of express review power in the Land Acquisition Act and (b) the terms of Order 47, Rule 1 CPC. The court examined s. 53 of the Land Acquisition Act, which provides that the provisions of the CPC apply to proceedings under the Act "save in so far as they may be inconsistent," and the definition of "court" in s. 3(d). Concluding there was no inconsistency, the court held that Order 47 applies to proceedings before a land acquisition judge and that a petition to review an award is maintainable under s. 53.
  3. On Mulambath and related authorities: The court rejected the narrow interpretation in Mulambath (which treated land acquisition decisions as mere awards and not decrees for the purpose of review), noting that other authorities treat decisions under s. 32 as decrees. The court followed Sakti Narain Singh (Patna) which supported the application of Order 47 and the availability of review.
  4. On Order 47, Rule 1, Sub-rule (2) CPC: The Advocate General argued this sub-rule barred the review because of appellate proceedings. The court interpreted the sub-rule as addressing petitions for review filed after an appeal has been filed, and held that the filing of an appeal after a review petition has already been filed does not oust the subordinate court's jurisdiction to deal with the review petition. Thus, that sub-rule did not affect the maintainability of the earlier-filed review petition.
  5. On the settled principle about vacatur and appeals: The court relied on established authorities that if a decree is vacated on review, any appeal preferred against that decree can no longer be prosecuted. Applying that settled rule to the facts, since the review petition had been allowed and a fresh award made before the appeal was disposed of, the appeal was rendered infructuous and was dismissed.
  6. On A.S. No. 724 of 1963 (challenge to enhancement to Rs. 1000 per cent): The State's main plea was that the claim was barred by s. 25(3) of the Act. The court examined the record (including the petition filed before the land acquisition officer and the application for reference, where the mode of valuation was stated in paragraphs 5 and 6) and concluded that s. 25(3) did not bar the claim. The court therefore dismissed the appeal.
  7. On A.S. No. 98 of 1964 (challenge to compensation by capitalisation at 20 times): The court found nothing wrong with the calculation based on capitalisation at 20 times and dismissed the appeal.

Holding and Implications

The court reached the following final determinations and consequences:

  • A.S. 38 of 1964: The appeal was held to be infructuous because the subordinate court allowed a review petition and passed a fresh award before the appeal was disposed of; accordingly the court dismissed the appeal as incompetent. The dismissal was made without any order as to costs.
  • A.S. No. 724 of 1963: The court rejected the State's plea under s. 25(3) and dismissed the appeal. No order as to costs was made.
  • A.S. No. 98 of 1964: The court upheld the compensation calculation by capitalisation at 20 times and dismissed the appeal. No order as to costs was made.

Implications:

  • The immediate effect is that the appeals brought by the State in these matters were dismissed, leaving the subordinate court's fresh awards (insofar as they were passed on review) and the original awards where not disturbed by successful review as the operative decisions between the parties.
  • On the legal principle, the court reaffirmed that s. 53 of the Land Acquisition Act brings in provisions of the CPC (Order 47) unless inconsistent, and that a petition to review an award under the Land Acquisition Act is maintainable — the court followed existing authority to that effect and expressly rejected a contrary view it considered inapposite.
  • The court applied established authorities that vacatur of a decree or award by review defeats any pending appeal against that decree/award; this rule determined the disposition of at least one of the appeals in the case.
  • The opinion does not purport to lay down a novel principle beyond its application of s. 53 and settled authorities; it primarily applies and reconciles existing law to the facts before it.

Note: This summary is prepared strictly from the text of the provided opinion. No facts or conclusions have been added beyond what is contained in that opinion.

    State Of Kerala v. Kunhammed Koya Haji

    1. 5656 square feet of land from t. S. 211 of the kozhikode municipality were acquired for the construction of a bus - stand. At the time of acquisition there were 12 buildings in the acquired property bearing door nos. 1227 to 1238. It is agreed that these buildings were constructed by the kanam - tenants. The notification under s. 4 (1) of the land acquisition act was on 24121952. The jenmi of the property tholappurath balalakshmi amma and kanam tenants owning the buildings bearing nos. 1229 and 1231 to 1234 and the building bearing door no. 1235 filed applications for reference under s. 18 of the land acquisition act the application filed by the jenmi for reference was numbered as laop. 113 of 1955. The learned subordinate judge of kozhikode in the said o. P. Enhanced the land value to rs. 1000 per cent. The kanom tenants were not made parties to laop. 113 of 1955. A. S. No. 724 of 1963 is filed by the state against the award passed in laop. 113 of 1955.

    2. The application for reference filed by the kanom tenant who is the owner of buildings bearing door nos. 1229 and 1231 to 1234 was numbered as laop. 109 of 1955. The learned subordinate judge awarded rs. 54225 towards the value of the buildings by capitalising the 9 months' rent at 25 times. A. S. 38 of 1964 is filed by the state against the said award.

    3. The application for reference filed by the kanom tenant who is the owner of the building bearing door no. 1235 is the subject - matter of laop. 128 of 1955. The learned subordinate judge awarded compensation at 20 times the rental value and including solatium awarded rs. 12, 420. A. S. 98 of 1964 is by the state against that award.

    4. We shall first take up a. S. 38 of 1964. The learned counsel for the respondent raised a preliminary objection that the appeal has become infructuous because the award which is the subject of appeal has been reviewed by the land acquisition court and the respondent has been given enhanced compensation and the award under appeal is therefore no longer subsisting. The award which is the subject - matter of a s. 38 of 1964 is dated 23 31953. The respondent filed a review petition on 30 81963. A. S. 38 of 1964 was filed by the state in this court on 21 1 1951. The review petition was allowed by the trial court on 9 3 1964 and a fresh award was passed. The question to be decided is whether in view of the fresh award it is open to the state to prosecute the appeal. The appeal was filed in this court only after the filing of the review petition. The filing of the appeal will not affect the jurisdiction of the subordinate judge to deal with the review petition. It is also clear that the appellate court could have dealt with the appeal on the merits even during the pendency of the petition for review and the ground raised in the review petition could have been considered by the appellate court. But when once review petition is allowed before the disposal of the appeal and the decree appealed against is superseded the appeal will become incompetent and it cannot be considered on the merits. In our view this appeal cannot be prosecuted any further.

    5. But the learned advocate general contended that the review petition was incompetent and the proceedings based upon the same are void and the variation of the award under appeal is without jurisdiction and has to be ignored by this court and therefore the appeal can be prosecuted on the merits. The submission of the learned advocate general was based upon the absence of any provision in the land acquisition act empowering a court to review any award and also because of the wording of 0. 47, R. 1, Cpc. In the case before us we are concerned with the land acquisition act i of 1894. It was argued by the advocate general that the right of review is not a procedural one and has to be expressly conferred by the statute s. 53 of the land acquisition act is in the following terms:

    "save in so far as they may be inconsistent with anything contained in this act, The provisions of the code of civil procedure (14 of 1882) shall apply to all proceedings before the court under this act."

    the expression "court" defined in s. 3 (d) of the act reads thus:

    "the expression 'court' means a principal civil court of original jurisdiction unless the appropriate government has appointed (as it is hereby empowered to do) a special judicial officer within any specified local limits to perform the functions of the court under this act."

    it is admitted that the court which passed the award appealed against is a court as defined in s. 3 (d) of the land acquisition act. In view of s. 53 the provisions of 0. 47. R. 1, Cpc. Must apply to proceedings before a land acquisition judge. There is no provision in the land acquisition act which is in any way inconsistent with the provisions of 0. 47, R. 1 of the cpc. The learned advocate general would contend that in view of s. 54 of the land acquisition act which expressly provides for appeals against the awards passed by the land acquisition court and also against the decrees passed by the high court in appeals against such awards, If a right of review was intended it would have been expressly conferred by the statute. Though this plea is attractive we are unable to entertain the same.

    the learned advocate general relied on the decision in mulambath kunhammad v. Parakkat kathiri kutti, 31 mlj. 827 where srinivasa aiyangar, J. Observed:

    "turning to the language of s. 53, The provisions of the code of civil procedure which are limited by the words "proceedings under the act" an i before the "court" which means the court of the judicial officer specially appointed to whom references are made under one or other of the sections of the

    act. Those words would exclude the provisions of the code relating to appeals from the award as they are not proceedings before the court and i think the provisions relating to review are equally inapplicable for as soon as a determination of the matters referred to the court is arrived at by that court and the award is made, All proceedings under the act'before the court' is at an end. "

    6. We are unable to accept the above interpretation of s. 53. The above decision has proceeded on the basis that a decision of a land acquisition court whether made on an application for reference under s. 18 or 30 or under s. 32 is only an award and not a decree. This view is not shared by the decisions of this court where it has been held that a decision under s. 32 of the land acquisition act is a decree though not an award. It is therefore not possible to adopt the line of reasoning in mulambath kunhammad v. Parakat kathiri kutti 31 mlj. 827. On the other hand in sakti narain singh v. Bir singh air. 1920 patna 743 it was observed:

    "the land acquisition act in s. 53 enacts that the provisions of the civil procedure code shall apply, Save so far as they are inconsistent with anything contained in the act. We find nothing in the act which forbids the application of 0. 47 of the code, And therefore in our opinion, The district judge had power to entertain an application under 0. 47."

    we follow the decision of the patna high court and hold that a petition to review an award is maintainable because of s. 53 of the land acquisition act. The decision in rangoon bototoung co. Ltd. V. Collector of rangoon ilr. 40 cal. 21 relied on by the learned advocate general has no application at all as in that case the question that was considered was whether an appeal will lie before the privy council from a decree of the high court in a land acquisition proceeding.

    7. It was then argued by the learned advocate general that the review petition is not maintainable because of 0. 47, R. 1, Sub - rule (2) which lays down that a party who is not appealing from a decree or order may apply for a review of judgment notwithstanding the pendency of an appeal by some other party except where the ground of such appeal is common to the applicant and the appellant, Or when being respondent, He can present to the appellate court the case on which he applies for the review. The contention is that since the review petitioner himself filed the appeal he was debarred from prosecuting the review petition because of 0. 47, R. 1, Sub - rule (2). In punjab singh bank ltd. V. Ram kishen, Air 1916 lahore 173 relied on by the learned advocate general the review petition was filed after the filing of the appeal. The principle of law, Upon which the sub - rule is based, Is that when an appellate court is seized of the case, And is empowered by law to grant the relief claimed by the applicant, The latter should have recourse to the appellate court, And not to the subordinate court. The, Act of filing an appeal subsequent to the filing of the review petition will not deprive the jurisdiction of the court to deal with the review petition filed earlier. The said provision only restricts the right of a person to apply for review and does not render the review petition already filed untenable. The wording of the provision itself is that a party who is not appealing from a decree or order may apply for a review of judgment notwithstanding the pendency of an appeal by some other party except where the ground of such appeal is common to the applicant and the appellant, Or when being respondent, He can present to the appellate court the case on which he applies for the review. The very wording of the provision shows that it deals with the filing of petitions for review subsequent to the filing of an appeal. We therefore overrule the plea of the learned advocate general and hold that 0. 47, R. 1, Sub - rule (2) ; cpc. Will not in any way affect the jurisdiction of the court to deal with the review petition on the merits.

    8. The law is now well - settled that if a decree made previously is vacated by a petition for review any appeal preferred against the decree can no longer be prosecuted. If any authority for the proposition is necessary we will cite the decisions in shidramappa v. Gurushantappa air. 1929 bombay 183, Aditya kumar v. Abinash chandra air. 1931 cal. 323, Vadilal v. Fulchand ilr. 30 bombay 56 and md. Rowther v. Swaminatha mudaliar air. 1936 madras 464. We therefore hold that as. 38 of 1954 has become infructuous and we dismiss the same without any, Order as to costs.

    a. S. No 724 of 1963

    9. This appeal is directed against the award passed by the learned subordinate judge on an application made under s. 18 of the land acquisition act by the jenmi of the property. The land value was enhanced by the learned subordinate judge to rs. 1000 per cent. The main plea of the learned counsel for the state was that the claim is barred under s. 25 (3) of the land acquisition act. The claim for enhancement was disallowed by the learned subordinate judge against which a. S. 1139 of 1959 was preferred in this court. The decision was set aside and this court directed that in view of the order in ia. 846 of 1956 for rectification of the mistake in the application for reference the decision could not tie sustained and therefore the matter was remanded. S. 25 (3) of the act reads thus:

    "when the applicant has omitted for a sufficient reason, To be allowed by the judge, To make such claim, The amount awarded to him by the court shall not be less than, And may exceed, The amount awarded by the collector."

    ext: cl is the petition filed before the land acquisition officer what is stated therein is to the following effect:

    in the application for reference also the mode of valuation is stated clearly in para. 5 and 6 thereof. We are therefore of the view that the plea that s. 25 (3) is a bar cannot be accepted. We therefore dismiss this appeal. But we make no order as to costs.

    a. S. No. 98 of 1964

    10. The compensation was awarded on the basis of capitalisation at 20 times. We do not find anything wrong in this calculation. We dismiss the appeal, But we make no order as to costs.

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    State Of Kerala v. Kunhammed Koya Haji
    (Sep 24, 1969)