SPECIAL LAND ACQUISITION OFFICER MANGALORE Vs. PIADADE FERNANDES

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal has come up after the matter was once remanded to the Court below for adjudicating the claim of the claimant for damages for severance of the land after acquisition and the consequent injurious affection to the eastern block of Sy. No. 43/6A1B2 of Kankanady village measuring 16 cents containing certain buildings.

(2.) The Court below, after remand, appointed a' Commissioner to value the remaining land with buildings and arbitrarily estimated the quantum of damages at 25% cf the market value. In the cross-objections, the claimant contends that 50% of the market value as estimated by the Commissioner ought to have been awarded as compensation under clause 'fourthly' of S.23(1) of the Land Acquisition Act. The Court below has not assessed the damages under the said clause, in accordance with settled legal principles governing such matters. There is no material before us on the basis of which we can assess the damages.

(3.) The principles governing the assessment of damages consequent on severance of land left out have been laid down by the High Court of Bombay in Government v. Century Spinning and Manufacturing Co, Ltd. AIR. 1942 Bom. 105. According to the said decision, the true principle is to see as to what would be the market value of the portion of the land left out both before and after severance. In M.F.A. No. 669 of 1971, the ratio of the said decision, was accepted by a Division Bench of this Court as laying down the correct law: In the treatise on Valuation and Compensation by R. M. Shah and H. R.Shah (1975 Edition), the learned Authors have stated at page 221 under the heading "Measure of Damage" thus: