The LARR Authority and the Remedy Scheme: Complete Notes (Part G)

Part G is the Act's judiciary: a specialist Authority with a District-Judge bench, the reference that brings it work, the proceedings and itemised award, the equality valve of re-determination, the first appeal to the High Court, the apportionment and payment machinery beneath, and the civil-court bar around it all. This consolidated note covers Topics 70 to 79 of this series.

1. The Forum

Under Section 51 the appropriate Government establishes, by notification, one or more Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Authorities for the speedy disposal of disputes on acquisition, compensation, rehabilitation and resettlement. Each Authority is a single Presiding Officer (Section 52), qualified as a District Judge, serving or former, or a legal practitioner of seven years' standing (Section 53), appointed in consultation with the High Court's Chief Justice, for three years or to age sixty-five, on conditions not variable to his disadvantage and removable only for proved misbehaviour or incapacity after inquiry (Sections 55 to 58), with a Registrar and staff. Under Section 60 the Authority is not bound by the CPC but guided by natural justice, regulates its own procedure, and holds a civil court's powers, summons and oath, discovery and production, affidavit evidence, requisition of public records, commissions, and review of its own orders, with proceedings deemed judicial proceedings and the Authority a deemed civil court for offences against the administration of justice.

2. The Reference and the Proceedings

The road in is Section 64: a person interested who has not accepted the award (payment under protest preserves the right) applies in writing to the Collector, with grounds, objecting to measurement, the amount of compensation, the persons entitled, R&R, or apportionment, within six weeks of the award if present or represented, otherwise six weeks from the Section 37 notice or six months from the award, whichever first, with the Collector's express power to condone delay for sufficient cause, mercy the 1894 Act's Section 18 never had. The Collector must refer. The proceedings then run Sections 65 to 72: the Collector's written statement (land, plan, persons, amounts, grounds); notice to the applicant, the persons interested, the Collector and the Requiring Body; an enquiry restricted to the objection's grounds, held in public; and an award in writing, signed, itemised and reasoned, determined on the Act's own valuation principles with solatium and the statutory additions on every enhancement, costs ordinarily on the Collector where his award falls, and interest on the excess at 9% from possession, 15% beyond a year (Section 72).

3. The Ripple and the Ladder

• Re-determination (Section 73): where the Authority enhances compensation for land under a preliminary notification, every other person interested under the same notification, including those who never sought a reference, may apply to the Collector within three months of the Authority's award for re-determination on its basis, taking the enhanced value with the multiplier, assets, solatium and additions, Section 28A's equality valve, carried forward and read benevolently: the litigant's victory is the village's floor.
• Appeal (Section 74): the Requiring Body or any person aggrieved may appeal to the High Court within sixty days, condonable up to sixty more, with disposal endeavoured within six months: a first appeal on fact and law, bounded by the reference's grounds. Above it only Article 136; beside it the writ jurisdictions for legality attacks.
• Part-of-a-house and temporary-occupation questions: the Authority also decides whether land is part of a house, manufactory or building under Section 94, and fixes temporary-occupation compensation where agreement fails (Sections 81 to 83).

4. Apportionment, Payment and the Bar

• Apportionment (Sections 75 and 76): agreed apportionment entered in the award is conclusive between the agreeing parties; disputes on apportionment or entitlement, the amount being settled, are referred by the Collector to the Authority, with division running on property principles: the award stands in the land's place, and every interest attaches to the money in its order.
• Payment (Section 77): on the award the Collector tenders and pays; payment blocked by non-consent, incompetence to alienate, or title and apportionment disputes is deposited with the Authority; receipt under protest preserves the reference, receipt without protest bars the quantum challenge.
• Protective investment (Sections 78 and 79): deposits for non-alienable and limited titles are invested, in like-title land or approved securities, under the Authority's direction: the money wears the title the land wore, so acquisition works no succession.
• Interest (Section 80): compensation neither paid nor deposited by possession carries 9% per annum, rising to 15% beyond one year, on the solatium-inclusive award.
• The bar (Section 63): no civil court may entertain disputes the Collector or Authority is empowered to decide, and no injunction lies against the Act's proceedings, Articles 226, 227 and the Supreme Court expressly untouched. The ouster stands on the completeness and judicial character of the substitute (the Dhulabhai and tribunal-design tests); outside it survive legality attacks on the writ road, fraud and nullity, and pure inter-party title disputes.

5. The Remedy Map

6. The Topics of This Part

• Topic 70: Establishment of the Authority: Section 51
• Topic 71: Composition, qualifications and terms: Sections 52 to 59
• Topic 72: Powers and procedure: Section 60
• Topic 73: The reference: Section 64
• Topic 74: Proceedings and award: Sections 65 to 72
• Topic 75: Re-determination: Section 73
• Topic 76: Appeal to the High Court: Section 74
• Topic 77: Apportionment and its disputes: Sections 75 and 76
• Topic 78: Payment, deposit and investment: Sections 77 to 80
• Topic 79: The bar of civil court jurisdiction: Section 63