Smt. Ravi Kanta Jain vs Pioneer Arms Company etc.

D.S. Tewatia, J.—Proceedings u/s (sic) of the Land Acquisition Act are pending with the District Judge, Hissar, between the Petitioner and Respondents 1 and 2 herein regarding a sum of Rs. 75,440.65 paise awarded by way of compensation by the Collector, Hissar, as market value of Shops Nos. 2065, 2067, 2068, 2070, 2073, 2074 and 2079 acquired under the said Act. This amount was lying with the Collector. The Petitioner moved the Collector for depositing the said amount in a fixed deposit in some bank, so that it may earn proper interest. Rs. 25,000/-, out of the above sum, were deposited in Saving Bank No. 4900354 on 18.1.1979 of the Mini Secretariat Post Office, Hissar, which carried an interest of only three per cent per annum. The Collector by his order dated 23.1.1980 dismissed the application observing that the amount was already lying deposited in the Saving Bank Account of the Mini Secretariat Post Office at Hissar and that the said amount should continue lying there till the decision of the case.

Apparently, the Collector had not kept in view the interest of the parties and also the fact that the said amount was awarded by way of compensation for the properties acquired. The amount will not be payable to the parties till the dispute is settled and when the dispute is settled and the amount comes to be paid to them the amount which is awarded to them by way of compensation, may not be equivalent to one-tenth of the market-value of the properties that had been acquired in lieu of the said amount. In the circumstances, the least that can be done to safeguard the interest of the parties, whose properties had been acquired, is to put that amount in such an account which bears the maximum interest.

For the reasons aforementioned, the order of the Collector dated 23.8.80 is set aside and he is directed to deposit the entire amount with any scheduled bank in a fixed deposit for a period of 61 months in the first instance and renew the period if, by then, the dispute between the parties is not finally resolved. The revision petition stands decided accordingly with no order as to costs.