SATINDER SINGH UMRAO SINGH SARDARNI GURDIAL KAUR Vs. UMRAO SINGH THE STATE OF PUNJAB THE STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE following Judgment of the court was delivered by :

(2.) THIS is a group of seven appeals all of which arise from the same land acquisition proceedings in respect of which the Punjab government originally issued a notification under s. 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, on 23/03/1948. By this notification the State Government declared its intention to acquire land in the Ambala District for the construction of the new Capital for East Pun ab. No action was, however, taken in pursuance of this notification. Meanwhile the Punjab Legislature passed the East Punjab Requisition of Immovable Property (Temporary Powers) Act, 48 of 1948. Under the provisions of this Act the government requisitioned the land in question for the purpose of resettling the persons who were likely to be evicted from their fands as a result of the construction of the new Capital. The said land was actually acquired on 20/05/1951. THIS land forms part of a Jagir known as 'Singh Purian ' and comprises the areas of villages Mataur, Dhirpur, Saneta and Giddarpur in the District of Ambala. It appears that these villages originally formed part of the area covered by the Cls Sutlej States. S. Amrao Singh was entered as owner of the land thus acquired. His wife is Sardarani Gurdial Kaur and his son is Satinder Singh. The estate of Amrao Singh was at the relevant time being managed by the court of Wards. Pursuant to the provisions of the Act compensation was assessed by the estate officer and was accordingly offered by the State government to the court of Wards. The court of Wards agreed to the amount of compensation thus offered and Amrao Singh himself did not object to it. Satinder Singh, however, was not willing to accept the said compensation and he raised several objections contending that it was wholly inadequate. He also objected to the compensation being paid either to the court of Wards or to his father Amrao Singh, and in support of this contention he urged that since the estate once formed part of Cis Sutlej States, Amrao Singh was entitled only to its usufruct for his life and had no right to alienate or otherwise deal with its corpus. Satinder Singh's plea was that after the amount of compensation was finally determined it should be deposited in government Securities or alternatively a part of it should be paid to him as compensation for the land of his reversionary rights. THIS plea applied to the three villages of Mataur, Saneta and Giddarpur. In regard to the village of Dhirpur, Amrao Singh's wife Sardarani Gurdial Kaur claimed that she was in possession of the said village as it was charged for the payment of her maintenance by a compromise decree passed in her favour and against her husband Amrao Singh. She therefore claimed for herself the entire amount of compensation. Thus the contest about the apportionment of the compensation amount took a triangular form.

(3.) THE arbitrator then proceeded to examine the merits of the rival contentions. He found that the property in suit was a part of Cis Sutlej States and so Amrao Singh had only a limited interest in it and had no right to alienate it. As a result of this conclusion the arbitrator held that Satinder Singh, who was the next heir, was entitled to contest the amount of compensation and was also entitled to claim a share in the distribution of the amount. In regard to Dhirpur land he held that Sardarani Gurdial Kaur was entitled to retain the possession of the village for her maintenance under a compromise decree and that both Amrao Singh and Satinder Singh were bound by the said decree. In the result the arbitrator determined the amount of compensation and directed that the entire amount of compensation in regard to Dhirpur should be invested in government Securities in the name of the holder of Manauli Estate with a charge in favour of Gurdial Kaur which would entitle her to its annual profits in lieu of maintenance. He also directed that on the death of Gurdial Kaur the amount should be divided half and half between the then holder of the Estate and the next heir or heirs taken together. In regard to the lands in the three other villages the arbitrator directed that the amount of compensation determined by him should be paid in cash, 3/4ths to Amrao Singh and 1/4th to the next sole heir Satinder Singh. THE amount originally offered by the government and ultimately awarded by the arbitrator were as follows: <FRM>JUDGEMENT_908_AIR(SC)_1961Html1.htm</FRM> It would thus be seen that the contest made by Satinder Singh in respect of the amount of compensation originally offered by the government substantially succeeded inasmuch as the total amount offered was increased by the arbitrator by Rs. 2,24,564.00.