KEHAR SINGH Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) .These group of appeals are preferred under Section 54 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short hereinafter referred to as ?~the Act ?T) against the award made by the reference court under Section 18 of the Act.

(2.) A notification under Section 4, 6 and 17 was published on 31-10-1980 for acquisition of vast area of land of village Jaffarpur @ Hiran Kudna. Vide award no. 11/82-83 dated 3-5-1982 the Land Acquisition Collector determined the amount of compensation at the rate of Rs. 2000/- per bigha for A block land and Rs. 1000/- per bigha for B block land. The claimants moved the application under Section 18 of the Act and the reference court awarded compensation for land at the uniform rate of Rs. 10,750/. It is against this award the present appeals are preferred under Section 54 of the Act claiming higher compensation.

(3.) The appellants who are the claimants in appeal no. RFA 486 of 1989, which is taken as a lead case, were having 1/3rd share in the land bearing khasra nos. 318(4-16), 332(4-16), 333(5-17) admeasuring total area of 10 bighas and 9 biswas. The LAC in his award discussed market value. No sale transaction was recorded within the period of last five years i.e. from 1-11-1975 to 31.10.1980. It is also pointed out that the land of village Neelwal, was also acquired for the said purpose for which these lands were acquired and the villages are adjacent to each other. It is pointed out that the market value of the land of village Neelwal was determined on the basis of sale transaction of the land of adjacent village Dichaon Kalan. It is further pointed out that the land of village Jaffarpur was of inferior quality to the land of village Neelwal and Dichaon Kalan. For fixing the market value of the land of village Dichaon Kalan, sale transaction of the said village were taken into consideration. So far as the boundary is concerned, it is pointed out that the land of village Jaffarpur is towards the north of the land of village Dichaon Kalan and the boundary of these villages meet along the line. Examining the revenue record, the Land Acquisition Collector could trace two awards one of the year 1954 and the other of the 1966 for the land situated at village Jaffarpur. The award made in the year 1966 determined the amount of compensation at the rate of Rs. 700/- per bigha for Block A and Rs. 200/- per bigha for Block B. So far as the transactions in the nearby areas are concerned, from 1-11- 1975 to 31-10-1980 there is some discussion in the award. The Land Acquisition Collector found out that in all for a period of given years, 339 bighas 2 biswas of land came to be transferred at the total sum of Rs. 862,000/-. The average value per bigha comes to Rs. 2542/-. Considering the different area and the amount for each year for the aforesaid period, average price per bigha is also taken out which ranges from Rs. 1726/- to Rs. 3497/-. Of course these are the sale transactions of parcels situated in the territorial limits of village Dichaon Kalan. It is also required to be noted that looking to the total sale transactions indicated in the award made by the Land Acquisition Collector, it appears that during the last five years i.e. to say from 1975 to 1980 considering the number of transactions, it can be said that village Dichaon Kalan was better developed than village Jaffarpur. In village Jaffarpur there are no sale instances and that indicates that neither there was any development nor the land was so fertile nor buyers thought to purchase the land though situated near village Dichaon Kalan.