Supreme Court sets aside Lok Adalat award in land acquisition dispute

Who it concerns: Appellants: Singapogu Babu Rao & Ors.; Respondents: Special Deputy Collector (Land Acquisition) & Ors. (including Singareni Colleries Company Ltd.); Bench: Justice J.B. Pardiwala.

What the court decided

• The Court set aside the Lok Adalat Awards (Nos. 452, 454, 455, 657, 658, 659, 661, 670, 671, 672, 673, 674, 675, 679, 680, 685 of 2016).
• The Court held that the procedure adopted by the High Court in referring the dispute to the Lok Adalat was incorrect.
• The Court determined that Order I Rule 8 of the CPC (representative proceedings) could not be applied to the Lok Adalat proceedings in this context.
• The Court noted that the awards were passed without the consent of all parties and without proper adjudication of title disputes among rival claimants.

Also in the document

• The Court found that the Principal District Judge had misunderstood the direction from the Coordination Meeting, which was intended to facilitate dispute resolution by joining all parties, not to pass awards based solely on enjoyment surveys.
• The High Court had previously dismissed the writ petition by treating the Lok Adalat proceedings as a class action under Order I Rule 8 of the CPC, a view the Supreme Court rejected.
• The Supreme Court had previously directed a stay on the apportionment and disbursement of compensation by order dated 04.11.2022.