- (1.) The petitioner/respondent no.1 was the owner in respect of the southern portion of the third floor of the premises no.2 Garstin Place, Kolkata - 700001. The said premises had been requisitioned by the State in 1965, 1979 and 1986 under the West Bengal Premises Requisition and Control (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1947. The process of requisition was initiated by the First Land Acquisition Collector, Calcutta initially on November 7, 1965 and the last of such requisition was made on October 4, 1986 in respect of the portion of third floor as mentioned hereinabove. The petitioner initially filed an application for appointment of an Arbitrator to adjudicate upon the disputes and differences that had arisen in relation to determination of rent compensation payable in respect of the requisitioned portions of the premises in question in 1965, 1979 and 1986. By an order dated July 5, 2002 a learned Single Judge of this Hon'ble Court appointed the District Judge of North 24 Parganas to enter upon the reference and try to dispose of the matter as early as possible within a period of four months. It appears that in a writ petition that was filed in the year 1990, in which a prayer was made for fixation of rent compensation in respect of southern portion of third floor of the premises in question and an order was passed by the learned Single Judge of this Hon'ble Court by directing the First Land Acquisition Collector to appoint an Arbitrator under Section 11 of the West Bengal Requisition and Control (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1947 for determination and fixation of rent compensation payable for the portion of the said premises requisitioned in the year 1986. All those matters were considered.
(2.) Upon such reference being made, the District Judge in compliance with the aforesaid order as a sole Arbitrator, passed a consolidated Award for Rs. 41,18,380/- together with interest @ 9% per annum as well as cost of Rs. 3000/-as arbitration cost. Subsequent thereto, a writ petition was filed by the petitioner for implementation of the Award dated April 18, 2007, which was disposed of by the learned Single Judge of this Hon'ble Court in the manner following: "In view thereof, there shall be a direction on the First Land Acquisition Collector, the respondent no.2 who had requisitioned the premises in question and had allotted the same to the Election authority of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation to implement the award passed by the sole Arbitrator, within a period of four months from date of receipt of a copy of this order. However, such implementation shall abide by the result of further proceeding if initiated by the respondents to have the award of the Arbitrator set aside."
(3.) The Corporation being aggrieved by the said Award, preferred the instant appeal with a prayer for condonation of delay. The appellant contends that consequent upon requisition by the State the said portion was handed over to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation to run its election office.;