Land Acquisition Award Can Be Executed Through Multiple Petitions Till Full Realisation; S.38 CPC Not Applicable: Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court has held that a land acquisition award, which is treated as a decree by legal fiction, can be executed through multiple execution petitions until the entire decretal amount is realised, and that such execution proceedings are not barred by Section 38 of the Code of Civil Procedure since the award is not a decree actually passed by a civil court.

A Division Bench comprising Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Md. Shabbar Rashidi dismissed an appeal filed by the Government of West Bengal challenging the maintainability of a second execution petition initiated by landowners to recover enhanced compensation arising out of acquisition proceedings.

The State contended that the respondents could not file a fresh execution petition before the High Court's Original Side after having earlier initiated execution before the Alipore court. It was also argued that the High Court lacked jurisdiction since it had not originally passed the decree and that amounts already deposited with the Collector and Registrar General required adjustment.

Rejecting these objections, the Court held that neither the West Bengal Land (Requisition and Acquisition) Act, 1948 nor the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 provides a specific execution mechanism. Therefore, the award is treated as a decree only by legal fiction to facilitate enforcement. Since the award is not a decree actually passed by a civil court, Sections 38 and 39 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908—which govern execution by the court which passed the decree—do not apply.

The Bench observed that “so long as the decree remains outstanding, any number of execution petitions are permissible.” As the award had admittedly not been fully satisfied, the landowners were entitled to initiate a second execution proceeding to recover the balance.

Tracing the history of the dispute, the Court noted that the Collector's award dated February 1997 was enhanced by the Reference Court in 2001 and further enhanced by the High Court in appeal in 2024. The State's Special Leave Petition was subsequently dismissed, leaving the enhanced compensation payable.

Holding that the executing court had rightly directed payment, the Division Bench found no ground to interfere and dismissed the State's appeal, leaving issues relating to exact computation and adjustment of deposits to be decided by the executing court.

Case: Government of West Bengal v. Shiladitya Banerjee & Ors.

Case No.: APOT 277 of 2025 with IA No. GA/1/2025

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