JUDGEMENT
B.S.A.SWAMY, J. -
(1.)CMP Nos.22950, 22953 and 22956 have been filed to condone
the delay, CMP Nos.22951, 22954 and 22957
have been filed to set aside the abatement
and CMP Nos.22952, 22955 and 22958 have
been filed to bring the legal representatives
of the deceased respondents on record.
(2.)By issuing notification under
Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act,
an extent of Ac.3.29 guntas of land belonging
to the respondents was acquired for
construction of R.T.C. Bus Stand. Thereafter,
the Land Acquisition Officer completed
award enquiry on 27.5.1980 and fixed the
compensation payable to the land losers, at
the rate of Rs.35/- per square yard and
deducted l/3rd of the amount for
development of the land. With the result, a
compensation of Rs.23.33 Ps per square
yard was awarded. Aggrieved by the said
award, the land losers sought for a reference
under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition
Act and the learned Senior Civil Judge,
Nalgonda, by his award dated 10th
December, 1982 enhanced the compensation
at the rate of Rs.85/- per square yard and no
amount was deducted for development.
Aggrieved by the said award and decree,
the Land Acquisition Officer preferred
A.S.No.748 of 1983 on the file of this Court.
(3.)We understand that Respondent
Nos.2, 3 and 4 died during the years 1992-
1993 while the appeals were pending. It is
also now on record that the Land Acquisition
Officer addressed a letter to the learned
Government Pleader for Land Acquisition,
informing the death of these respondents
and to take steps to bring their legal
representatives and that letter was received
in the Government Pleader's Office on
22.1.1993. But the Government Pleader's
Office did not take any steps to bring the
legal representatives on record. It is
also necessary to mention that at that point
of time one Mr. Rajeev Indhani, Advocate
was appearing for the land losers. When
the appeal came up for hearing, the
appeal was disposed of on 7th August, 1996
without knowing that respondents died
and compensation was reduced to Rs.35/-
per square yard. Nearly after one year, some
of the living respondents filed an application
to set aside the judgment and decree by
stating that the appeal was disposed of
ex parte since Mr. Rajeev Indhani, who
suffered disqualification from appearing in
the Court, did not appear in the Court on
that day and the appeal was decided in his
absence. This Court by an order dated
31.12.1997 having observed that the appeal
was disposed of in the absence of Mr. Rajeev
Indhani and also having taken note of the
fact that R2, R3 and R4 died during the
pendency of the appeal, set aside the
judgment and decree dated 7.8.1996 on
condition that the land losers pays an amount
of Rs.3,000/- to Ms. Swarna Reddy, the
Counsel for the Government towards costs
within three weeks from that date. Their
Lordships further directed that on payment
of the cost, the appeal shall be restored to
the file for hearing before regular Court
hearing the first appeals. Thereafter, we
understand that the said amount was paid
and the appeal was restored to file. Nearly
five years thereafter, the appeal was posted
before this Court on 14.11.2002 and having
noticed that in spite of the orders of the
Court, the legal representatives of R2, R3
and R4 were not brought on record, we
adjourned the matter by giving two weeks
time. Thereafter, the present applications
were filed.
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