UNION OF INDIA Vs. BAL RAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Pursuant to notification issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act on 17-1-1984, lands in 13 villages were acquired and Shahbad Mohamadpur was also one such village.

(2.) The High Court taking into consideration that certain other lands coming under different villages which had been acquired for the same purpose, namely, Plan Development Area around Palam Airport in the vicinity of Delhi, found that compensation under market value of Rs 47,224 per bigha would be reasonable and appropriate. In doing so, the High Court followed a decision of this Court in Satpal v. Union of India., 1997 11 SCC 423

(3.) The ground urged before us is that in view of the decision in Kanwar Singh v. Union of India, 1998 8 SCC 136 contiguity of villages could not by itself be sufficient to draw an inference of similarity in character of the lands in awarding the compensation and, therefore, the reasoning of the High Court is not correct.