GGURUBASAPPA Vs. SPECIAL LAND ACQUISITION OFFICER CITY MUNICIPALITY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant (now deceased and represented by his L. Rs) has claimed additional compensation of Rs. 5000/- over the amount awarded by the District Court, Bangalore, for a piece of vacant land situated in the Jumma Masjid Road, very near Avenue Road, Bangalore city. The Land Acquisition Officer has made an award at the rate of Rs. 25/- per Sq. yard apart from the value of the structure on the land and the statutory allowance. The learned Third Additional District Judge enhanced the award amount by increasing the rate to Rs. 50/- per sq. yard.

(2.) It is urged by the learned advocate for the appellant that, considering the location of the plot, the compensation awarded is too low. He has examined 7 witnesses including himself. But that evidence affords to firm basis for arriving at any enhanced valuation as claimed by the appellant C. W. 1 speaks about the shop owned by him in the Avenue Road and the rent fetched by it. C. W. 2 speaks generally about the prevailing rents for shops in the neighbouring locality. C. W. 4 says that he has purchased a house at a distance of about a quarter furlong from the plot in question for about Rs. 40,000/- with a view to demolish and put up shops and gives the dimensions of the property purchased by him. C. W. 5 is the tenant of a shop in the neighbourhood and speaks about the rent he pays for the shop. C. W. 6 gives his opinion about the market value of the plot as Rs. 20000 at about the time of acquisition. C. W. 7 speaks of one Jayanthi Venkataramanappa negotiating through him for purchasing the plot for Rs. 15000 or Rs. 20000/-. The intending purchaser is not examined; nor is there any documentary evidence about the matter. The appellant, who examined himself as C. W. 3, has stated that the plot is worth more than Rupees 40000. In fact he put forward that claim before the court though he has abated the claim considerably in this appeal,

(3.) It is hardly necessary to say that the evidence mentioned above can give no idea of the market value of the plot with any degree of approximation. The rent fetched in the neighbouring area and particularly in the Avenue Road would afford no criterion for the rent that might be fetched in the area in question, and even then other factors like the cost of the structure have to be taken into consideration. Even the estimate given by the claimant's witnesses varies over a large range from Rs. 15000 to Rs. 40000.