Court No. - 4
Case :- CONTEMPT APPLICATION (CIVIL) No. - 1011 of 2021 Applicant :- Mst Jayanti Pandey Opposite Party :- Sri Manoj Kumar And Another Counsel for Applicant :- Balendra Deo Misra,Suresh Chandra Pandey Counsel for Opposite Party :- Pranjal Mehrotra,Praveen Kumar Giri
Hon'ble Prakash Padia,J.
1. Heard Sri B. D. Misra, learned counsel for the applicant and Sri K.
R. Singh, learned Additional Chief Standing Counsel for the opposite party no.1 and Sri Pranjal Mehrotra, learned counsel for the opposite party no.2.
2. The applicant is before this Court for a direction to initiate contempt proceeding against the opposite party for wilful disobedience of the judgement and order dated 01.05.2019 passed in Writ Petition No.12875 of 2019 (Jayanti Pandey Vs. Union of India & others) and order dated 22.10.2020 passed in Contempt Application No.2191 of 2020 (Mst. Jayanti Pandey Vs. Sri Manish Kumar Verma, District Collector, Kaushambi and others.)
3. Facts in brief as contained in the present contempt application are that a notification under the National Highway Act, 1956 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act, 1956”) was notified on 20.02.2015 to acquire the land of applicant/petitioner Gata No.1121 having area 320 sq. meter situated at Village Kakoda, Tehsil Sirathu District Kaushambi for widening the National Highway Road. The declaration of acquisition was published on 27.04.2015 in two daily newspaper and compensation has been determined under Section 3G(1) & (2) of the Act 1956 on 18.01.2018 and the Land Acquisition Officer, Kaushambi declared award on 18.01.2018 as Rs.5500/- per square meter. The applicant moved an application on 25.08.2017 for payment of compensation. When a considerable time has been lapsed and compensation has not been paid, the applicant filed a Writ C No.12875 of 2019. The said writ petition was disposed of vide order dated 1.5.2019 with the following directions:
"Heard Shri Suresh Chandra Pandey, learned counsel for the petitioner, learned standing counsel for the respondents no. 2 and 3 and Shri Awadh Bihari Pandey holding brief of Shri Neeraj Dube, learned counsel for the respondent no. 4.
No one appears on behalf of the respondent no. 1-Union of India. The petitioner in the writ petition is seeking a direction to the respondents to release the entire compensation awarded by the respondent no. 2 in favour of the petitioner on 18.1.2018.
Learned standing counsel however on instructions received informs that there was some error in the award which has also been corrected on 6.4.2018 and thereafter the corrected award has been submitted to the respondent no. 4-Project Director, National Highway Project Implementation Unit, Kanpur and after verifying the same the respondent no. 4 has deposited the amount of compensation with the Land Acquisition Officer, District Kaushambi-respondent no. 2.
We therefore dispose of this writ petition with the direction to the petitioner to approach the respondent no. 2 with an application for release of compensation. If such an application alongwith certified copy of this order is filed by the petitioner within fifteen days from today, the respondent no. 2-Land Acquisition Officer, District Kaushambi shall verify the ID of the petitioner and thereafter release the amount of compensation to her within a further period of one month.
Instructions passed on to the court by the learned standing counsel are kept on record.”
4. In compliance of the aforesaid order, applicant moved an application on 08.05.2019 for taking compensation then she knew that the authority has changed the award dated 18.01.2018 and prepared new award dated 15.05.2018 by which the compensation was reduced. Thereafter the applicant filed another Writ Petition No.19215 of 2019 (Jayanti Pandey Vs. Union of India and others) for setting aside the award dated 15.05.2018. The said writ petition was connected with Writ Petition No.22248 of 2019 (Sita Ram and another Vs. Union of India and others). The said petition was allowed vide order dated 26.02.2020 and the award dated 15.05.2018 was set aside and affirmed the award dated 18.01.2018.
The National Highway Authority of India filed a case before an arbitrator under Section 3(G)(5) of the Act, 1956 for cancelling the award dated 18.01.2018 after the order dated 01.05.2019. The arbitrator after hearing and without looking the order dated 01.05.2019, cancelled the award dated 18.01.2018 on 14.12.2020. Thereafter the applicant filed Contempt Application (Civil) No.2191 for compliance of the order dated 01.05.2019. The said contempt application was disposed of vide order dated 22.10.2020 granting one more opportunity to comply with the order dated 01.05.2019. Since the aforesaid orders dated 01.05.2019 as well as order dated 22.10.2021 were not complied with, hence the present contempt petition.
5. Pursuant to the order of this Court, affidavit of compliance has been filed. It is stated in paragraph 5 of the affidavit that by notification dated 20.02.2015, lands were acquired and award was made payment of compensation on 18.01.2018. The said award was corrected/reviewed vide order dated 15.05.2018. The award dated 15.05.2018 was cancelled by this Court vide its order dated 26.02.2020 passed in Writ Petition No.22248 of 2019 (Sita Ram and another Vs. Union of India and others). The respondent challenged the award dated 18.01.2018 before the Arbitrator and the award dated 18.01.2018 was set aside by the Arbitrator vide its order dated 14.12.2020. It is argued that the order dated 14.12.2020 passed by the Arbitrator setting aside the award dated 18.01.2020 was not challenged before any forum, therefore, the order dated 14.12.2020 has become final.
6. It is argued that since the award dated 18.01.2018 was set aside by the Arbitrator and award dated 15.05.2018 was set aside by this Court, in the circumstance, there is no award is in existence. It is argued that in the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case, the authority concerned passed a fresh award dated 17.02.2021. It is stated in paragraph 6 of the affidavit of compliance that the opposite party sent a notice to the applicant on 24.02.2021 which was served through Naib Tehsildar concerned and the Lekhpal to the family member of the applicant, copy of which is appended as Annexure No.4 to the affidavit of compliance. It is stated in paragraph 7 of the aforesaid affidavit, when the applicant did not turn up, another notice for providing Bank Account Number and IFC code has been sent through registered post to the applicant, copy of same is appended as Annexure 5 to the affidavit.
7. It is argued by counsel for the opposite party that the opposite party is ready to pay the compensation but the applicant is not willing to receive the compensation.
8. Heard learned counsel for the parties.
9. The applicant has filed the present contempt application to comply with the order dated 01.05.2019 passed in Writ Petition No.12875 of 2019 (Jayanti Pandey Vs. Union of India & others) and order dated 22.10.2020 passed in Contempt Application No.2191 of 2020 (Mst. Jayanti Pandey Vs. Sri Manish Kumar Verma, District Collector, Kaushambi and others.). by which this Court directed to pay the compensation according to the award dated 18.01.2018. In the aforesaid petitions, subject matter is award dated 18.01.2018 and it is directed to pay the compensation as per award dated 18.01.2018.
10. From perusal of the record, it is clear that the award dated 18.01.2018 was set aside by the Arbitrator and award dated 15.05.2018 was also set aside by this Court, in the circumstance, award dated 18.01.2018 is not in existence. Since the award dated 18.01.2018 is not in existence, therefore, no contempt has been made out.
11. In this view of the matter, the present contempt application is dismissed.
Order date 19.08.2021/saqlain