UNION OF INDIA Vs. CHAIN SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted. We have heard learned counsel on both sides.

(2.) It is seen that the Land Acquisition Officer has adduced the oral as well as documentary evidence. The claimants also filed the documentary evidence as well as the oral evidence. On consideration of the evidence, the Arbitrator as well as the High Court have held that the lands are situated in a developed area and possessed of and commanded good market value for sale in the open market to a willing purchaser and, therefore, they are capable of fetching market value ranging from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 2 lakhs per acre and in view of the fact that the sale deeds relied on were in respect of small pieces of land they determined the compensation at the rate of Rs. 70,000/- per acre.

(3.) The question is : whether the view taken by the Arbitrator as well as by the High Court is correct in law It is settled law that under Section 8(3) of the Act, as amended by Act 6 of 1977, the compensation payable for the acquired property under Section 7 shall, in the absence of an agreement, be the price which the requisitioned party would have fetched in the open market, if it had remained in the same condition as it was at the time of the requisition, and (had) been sold on the date of acquisition in the same condition. In other words, the principle required to be applied would be that the existing conditions as on the date of the acquisition (as if existed in conditions) in which the land existed on the date of requisition, be the determining factor for fixing the compensation as per the market value prevailing as on the date of the acquisition and compensation has to be determined accordingly.