Hyderabad: Order 21 of the Civil Procedure Code empowers people to approach a civil court for execution of final award under the Land Acquisition Act after confirmation either by the land acquisition officer or by the civil court or the High Court.
N. Sreedhar Reddy, former special counsel of the government, explained that land owners have the right to receive the compensation determined by the Land Acquisition Officer (LAO) the civil court passed final decree under protest and then file an application to refer the case to trial court for enhancing the compensation.
He said that “in case the civil court decreed the enhanced compensation, and the LAO has not challenged the final decree, then the land owner has the right to move the Execution Petition (EP). If the LAO has challenged the decree of the civil court and it went up to the High Court, which confirms the civil court order, then also the land owner has to go to the civil court.”
He said that the main reason for the delay in paying enhanced compensation is the LAO not depositing the money before the trial court. That is why often the civil courts pass orders attaching the furniture and offices of district collectors and LAOs concerned.
He said that recently the Supreme Court had ordered that the land owners can move the High Court by filing a writ petition under Article 226 in case there is an abnormal delay in disposing of EPs.
