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2006 DIGILAW 994 (PNJ)

Banta Singh v. State of Punjab

2006-03-08

VINEY MITTAL

body2006
JUDGMENT VINEY MITTAL, J. 1. This judgment shall dispose of a bunch of Regular First Appeals since all the appeals have arisen out of a common award dated February 16,1995 passed by the learned Additional District judge, Sangrur. 2. Some of the appeals have been filed by the State of Punjab claiming reduction in the compensation for the acquired land, as awarded by the Reference Court, whereas, remaining appeals have been filed by the claimants claiming further enhancement. 3. Vide notification dated May 24, 1989 issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, ‘the Act), the land measuring 104 acres, 5 kanals and 7 marl as was acquired in village Longowal, District Sangrur. The said land was acquired at public expense for a public purpose, namely, for setting up Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology. Section 17(2) of the Act was invoked and exercising the emergency powers, notification under Section 6 was also issued on the same date. 4. It is conceded by the learned counsel for the parties that the possession of the acquired land was taken on December 28,1989. 5. The Land Acquisition Collector through his award dated May 10,1990, classified the land in two categories. For Chahi land, the compensation was assessed at Rs.55,000/- per acre and for Baranil and the compensation was assessed at Rs.45,000/- per acre. 6. The claimants-land owners remained unsuccessful. Consequently, they sought references under Section 18 of the Act. The matter was duly referred to the Reference Court. 7. During the course of reference proceedings, the parties led their evidence. Besides producing the oral evidence and proving the Aks Latha and the site plan of the acquired land, the claimants as well as the State of Punjab relied upon various sale instances. 8. The learned Reference Court relied upon the sale deed dated December 29,1988 Ex.A15,vide which 2 kanals of land had been sold at an average price of Rs.71,000/- per acre. As a matter of fact, the said sale instance was also relied upon by the State and was produced as Ex.RI0 on the record. The remaining sale instances relied upon by the claimants’ as well as the State were ignored by the Reference Court, by holding that same were not relevant and could not be taken into consideration for assessing the market value of the acquired land. The remaining sale instances relied upon by the claimants’ as well as the State were ignored by the Reference Court, by holding that same were not relevant and could not be taken into consideration for assessing the market value of the acquired land. After taking into consideration the aforesaid sale instances Ex.A15/Ex.RIO, the Reference Court held the that sale instance pertains to a small piece of land, therefore, some reasonable cut was required to be” imposed. Consequently, the market value of the acquired land was assessed at the rate of Rs.67,200/- per acre. It may be noticed that on the basis of evidence led by the parties the entire acquired land was classified as Chahi. In these circumstances, the entire acquired land was assessed at the rate of Rs.67,200/- per acre. Besides the aforesaid market value, the claimants were also held entitled to statutory benefits, as per the amended provisions of the Act. 9. As noticed above, the State of Punjab has challenged the award of the Reference Court by claiming that the enhancement granted by the Reference Court was not justified and that the Land Acquisition Collector had assessed the market value correctly. On the other hand, the claimants have approached this Court through the various appeals, claiming further enhancement. 10. I have heard the learned counsel for the parties and with their assistance have also gone through the record of the case. 11. For the sake of convenience, various sale instances relied upon by the claimants as well as State of Punjab may be noticed as follows: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sr. Exhibit Date of Average Area Distance from No. Sale deed rate per acre acquired land - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1 A14 19.4.90 1,00,000/- 13 killas Approximately 16 killas from acquired land. 2 A15 29.12.88 71,000/- 2 kanals Just abutting the acquired land only drain intervenes 3 R10 -do- -do- -do- 4 A16 19.4.90 As is serial No. 1 above 5 A17 24.5.90 1,05,000/- 14 kanals Approximately 20 killas from acquire land 6 A18 24.5.90 -do- -do- 7 A19 30.1.89 80,000/- 2 kanal 3 M 3 killas on Namol road 8 A20 25.6.90 2,86,000/- 2-3/4 kanals Situated in abadi 1 kilometer 9 A21 26.7.89 1,80,000/- 1 bigha 5 biswa 6 killas away on back side 10 A22 26.7.89 -do- 1 bigha 4 killas away on back side abutting boundary of village kunran 11 A23 1.6.90 1,05,000/- 14kanals 20 killas away from acquired land 12 A24 23.4.90 1,00,000/- 13 kanals 20 killas away from acquired land 16 killas 13 A25 23.4.90 1,00,000/- -do- -do- 14 A26 28.5.90 1,05,000/- 14 kanals 20 killas 15 A27 15.5.84 - 0-49-07 On Duggan road quite away from acquired land. 16 A28 14.5.94 - 0-26-80 -do- 17 R11 31.5.89 24,000/- 1 K 14 marla 12 killas 18 R12 5.12.88 30,000/- 7 kanal 1 M 8 killas 19 R13 21.8.89 30,000/- 1 Acre 9 killas away - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 12. It is apparent from the perusal of the aforesaid sale instances relied upon by the claimants that all other sale instances except sale instances EX.A15 and Ex.A19 pertain to the period after notification i.e. May 24, 1989. As a matter of fact some of the sale instances are even after the possession of the acquired land had been taken on December 28, 1989. As a matter of fact some of the sale instances are even after the possession of the acquired land had been taken on December 28, 1989. In these circumstances, reliance can only be placed upon the aforesaid sale instances EX.A.15 and EX.A 19relied upon by the claimants. 13. The sale instances relied upon by the State are Ex.R10,R.11, R.12, R.13, EX.R.1 7, EX.R.18 and EX.R.19. As noticed above, the sale instance Ex.R10 is the same sale transaction as reflected in the sale deed EX.A15. With regard to the remaining sale instancesExs.R.17,R.18, and R.19, there is no material on record to show the location of the land. With regard to the remaining sale instancesEx.R.ll,12 and 13, the land covered by the said sale instances is shown to be at a distance from the acquired land. In these circumstances, the aforesaid sale instances EX.Rll to R13 were rightly ignored by the Reference Court. 14. Therefore, for assessing the market value of the acquired land, the only sale instances which are relevant for consideration are Ex.A 15 and A 19. The learned counsel for the appellants have pointed out that in the award of the Reference Court, the land covered by the sale instance Ex.AI9 has been shown to be 3 kilometers away from the acquired land, but as a matter of fact, the said land was only three killas away from the acquired land. In these circumstances, the aforesaid sale instance Ex.AI9 is also very relevant for consideration. Although the remaining sale instances relied upon by the claimants are after the date of notification, but all the same the fact remains that a rise in prices have been indicated by the aforesaid sale instances. In these circumstances, for assessing the market value of the acquired land, sale instance EX.A 19 is liable to be preferred over even sale instance Ex.A 15, in as much as, in the said sale instance Ex.A 19 the sale had taken place on January 30,1989 i.e. about four months prior to the date of notification. The said sale reflects an average price ofRs.80,000/- per acre. Keeping in view the rising price and giving an increase of 12% on the aforesaid sale price, the sale instance Ex.A 19would reflect an average price of approximately Rs.83,000/- on the date of notification. The said sale reflects an average price ofRs.80,000/- per acre. Keeping in view the rising price and giving an increase of 12% on the aforesaid sale price, the sale instance Ex.A 19would reflect an average price of approximately Rs.83,000/- on the date of notification. The aforesaid sale instance was for the sale of land measuring 2 kanals 3 marlas of land, therefore, a reasonable cutis required to be imposed for assessing the market value of the acquired land. Therefore, in my considered opinion, Rs.73,000/- per acre would be the appropriate price which the claimants should get for their acquired land on the date of notification. 15. Keeping in view the aforesaid discussion, I partly allow the appeals filed by the claimants and hold that the claimants would be entitled to get Rs.73,000/- per acre as compensation for their acquired land. Besides the aforesaid compensation, the claimants would also be entitled to all the statutory benefits, as admissible to them in accordance with law, as per amended provisions of the Act. In view of the aforesaid fact, the appeals filed by the State of Punjab are dismissed. There shall be no order as to costs.