Ranchi, Sept 24: The Jharkhand High Court has set aside a 2018 tribunal order in a decades-old land compensation dispute linked to the Rajrappa coal project in Ramgarh district and directed the matter to be reconsidered.The dispute relates to 18.19 acres of land in Mouza Sevai, which, according to the claimants, was acquired by the Centre on December 29, 1962 under the Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition and Development) Act, 1957.
The landowners’ legal heirs have claimed that the property was family raiyati land and that the original claimant, Tikendra Choudhary, was provided employment following the acquisition.
However, they maintain that monetary compensation for the land was not paid.The National Coal Development Corporation (NCDC), which was associated with the project, was later merged with Central Coalfields Limited (CCL), making the public sector coal company a party to the dispute.The claimants have relied on documents including a hukumnama, parcha, zamindari receipts and other records to support their case.
They also informed the High Court that the land acquisition authority had recognised the property as raiyati land in 1989.The Additional Judicial Commissioner-cum-Tribunal, Ranchi, had rejected the claim in 2018 after observing that certain documents, including the required Form-K and related parcha records, had not been produced.
During the proceedings before the High Court, the claimants sought permission to introduce the additional documents as evidence.Justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi allowed the documents to be brought on record, observing that they could be relevant to reaching a fair and proper decision in the matter.
The court invoked the provisions of Order 41 Rule 27 of the Code of Civil Procedure concerning the admission of additional evidence at the appellate stage.The court also noted that CCL had acknowledged the acquisition of the land and the employment provided to the original claimant.
Consequently, the High Court quashed the tribunal’s earlier order and restored the original claim for fresh consideration. The tribunal has been directed to examine the additional evidence and decide the dispute again.
The parties have been directed to appear before the tribunal on September 29 at 10:30 a.m. The High Court has asked the tribunal to expedite the proceedings in view of the age of the dispute and directed the parties to avoid seeking unnecessary adjournments.
The High Court’s order reopens the compensation proceedings but does not itself determine the final amount, if any, payable to the claimants. The matter will now be decided afresh by the tribunal.
