Land Acquisition (Appeals Board) Regulations

The Board may, at any time after receiving a petition of appeal, require an appellant to furnish a statement setting out further and better particulars of the grounds of appeal on which he intends to rely and any facts or contentions relevant thereto.

The appellant shall within such time as may be prescribed by the Board, not being less than 14 days after the date of the requirement, send the statement to the Registrar in quintuplicate.

Upon receipt of the statement, the Registrar shall forthwith forward one copy to the Collector.

Upon receipt of a petition of appeal under section 25(1) of the Act, the Collector shall, if it appears to him that the grounds of appeal have been made contrary to the provisions of the Act, make within 14 days an application to the Board under regulation 8 for the petition of appeal to be dismissed or varied.

Thereupon, the Board shall, subject to the provisions of the Act, make such order as may be just:Provided that such order shall not, subject to the provisions of the Act, give the appellant a right to raise the grounds of appeal other than those already stated in his petition of appeal.

Any application of an interlocutory nature in connection with any proceedings shall be made to the Board.

The application shall be made in writing and shall state the title of the proceedings and the grounds upon which the application is made.

If the application is made with the consent of any other party, it shall be accompanied by a notice of consent signed by or on behalf of such other party.

If the application is not made with the consent of any other party, then, before it is made, a copy thereof shall be served upon such other party and the application shall state that this has been done.

Any party who objects to the application may, within 14 days after receiving a copy thereof, send a written notice of objection to the Registrar and to the applicant, and before making any order on the application the Board shall consider any objection which it may have received and, if so required by any party, shall give all parties an opportunity of appearing before the Board.

In dealing with any application under this regulation, the Board shall have regard to the convenience of the parties and the desirability of limiting so far as practicable the costs of the proceedings and shall communicate its decision in writing to each party thereto.

The Board shall sit in the courtroom of the Board or at such other place as the Commissioner may from time to time determine.

An application for a change of date of hearing may be made by any party to the appeal at least 5 days before the date fixed for hearing of the appeal in accordance with regulation 8.

The Board may, for the convenience of witnesses or other sufficient reason, adjourn or fix a special time for the hearing of an appeal or any proceedings therein, having due regard to the precedence of other appeals.

Subject to the provisions of the Act and these Regulations, the procedure at the hearing of any proceedings shall be such as the Board may determine.

At the hearing the appellant shall begin and, if he fails to make out a prima facie case that the Collector's award is inadequate, the Board may dismiss the appeal without calling the Collector and may make such order as to costs as may be just.

The Board shall take note of all evidence and exhibits put in evidence at the hearing.

Where the Board is to sit with two assessors as prescribed by section 26(1) of the Act, the Commissioner shall make his selection from among the panel of assessors appointed under section 26(2) of the Act in writing at least 14 days before the date fixed for the hearing of an appeal.

The Registrar shall furnish to the assessors selected for the appeal such information in respect of the appeal as is available.

Any party to the proceedings may within 7 days after receipt of the notice of hearing object to either or both of the selected assessors and may make an application in accordance with regulation 8 for the selection of another assessor or other assessors in substitution for such selected assessor or assessors.

The Commissioner may allow the application if in his opinion sufficient grounds for objection to such selected assessor or assessors have been shown.

The Board may, if it considers fit, enter on and inspect the land which is the subject-matter of the proceedings before the Board and, so far as may be practicable, any comparable land to which the attention of the Board may be directed.

The Board shall give notice of its intention to inspect any land and the Collector and the appellant and witnesses shall be entitled to attend the inspection.

Every decision or order of the Board shall be given in writing, together with a brief statement of the Board’s reasons for its decision or order, either immediately on conclusion of the hearing or on some subsequent date of which due notice to the appellant and the Collector shall be given.

The original copy of the Board’s decision or order shall be filed.

The Registrar shall send certified copies of the decision or order to the Collector and the appellant.

Any notice or other document required or authorised to be served on any person for the purposes of these Regulations shall be deemed to have been duly served if sent by post to that person at his ordinary address or to his address for service specified in any notice given under these Regulations.

Any application or communication to be made to the Board in respect of any case shall be addressed to the Registrar.