The Authority, the Appeal, and the Land That Comes Back

In one line

A dedicated tribunal decides what the land was worth, an appeal lies to the High Court, and land taken and not used goes back.

In the wording a student can write in an exam: section 51 establishes a Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Authority for each area, with a Presiding Officer qualified to be a District Judge or a legal practitioner of not less than seven years' standing; section 60 gives it the powers of a civil court; section 69 provides for the determination of the award by it; section 74 provides an appeal to the High Court within sixty days; section 101 requires unutilised land to be returned to the original owner or to the land bank; section 102 requires a share of the increased value to be paid where the land is transferred for a higher consideration; and section 105 deals with the enactments in the Fourth Schedule.

The Authority

Section 51 requires the appropriate Government to establish, by notification, one or more Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Authorities to exercise jurisdiction, powers and authority under the Act, and to specify the area for each.

Section 52 provides for its composition: one person only, the Presiding Officer.

Section 53, qualifications. A person shall not be qualified for appointment as Presiding Officer unless he is or has been or is qualified to be a District Judge, or is a legal practitioner for not less than seven years.

Sections 54 to 59 provide for the term of office, the staff, the salary, the filling of vacancies, resignation and removal, and the finality of the order constituting the Authority.

Section 60, powers. The Authority shall for the purposes of its functions have the same powers as are vested in a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, in respect of summoning and enforcing attendance and examining on oath, discovery and production of documents, receiving evidence on affidavits, requisitioning public records, issuing commissions, reviewing its decisions, dismissing an application for default or deciding it ex parte, setting aside such an order, and any other prescribed matter; and it is not bound by the Code but is guided by the principles of natural justice and, subject to the Act, has power to regulate its own procedure.

Why a dedicated authority. Under the 1894 Act a dissatisfied owner asked the Collector to refer the matter to the civil court, and the reference took years in a court with a general docket. A single-member tribunal with a District Judge's qualification, bound by natural justice rather than by the Code, is meant to be faster.

The award and the appeal

Section 69 provides for the determination of the award by the Authority, which shall determine the amount of compensation and the rehabilitation and resettlement entitlement, and in doing so shall take into consideration the parameters in section 28 and the Second Schedule.