STATE OF KERALA Vs. YESODHARAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) State is the appellant. Appeal arises from the judgment in L. A.R.48/95 decided by the Sub Court, Sulthan Bathery on 31.5.2000.

(2.) An extent of 0.0970 hectares of land in survey No. 76/15 in Purakkadi Village belonging to the claimant was acquired for the Karapuzha Irrigation Project. Statutory notification was published on 10.1.1994. Land Acquisition Officer passed the award on 29.10.1994. The property was taken possession on 18.1.1994. Inclusive to all statutory benefits the respondent-claimant was given Rs. 82,895/- as compensation by the Land Acquisition Officer. Dissatisfied, respondent-claimant filed application for enhancement of the compensation.

(3.) Value of the land for the purpose of compensation was fixed not on the basis of centage value but by capitalisation method. There were 104 yielding coffee plants and 69 pepper plants in the acquired property. According to the respondent average yield per plant ought to have been estimated as 3 kgs. as against 2 Kgs. estimated by the Reference Court. On that basis the annual yield was calculated as 208 kgs. At the relevant time, the price rate of coffee was Rs. 21.38. Thus the annual income from coffee was fixed at Rs. 4447/-. After deducting 25% maintenance cost which comes to Rs. 1112/- the annual net income was assessed at Rs. 3335/-. Regarding the above calculation, there is no serious challenge in this appeal. However, learned Govt. Pleader appearing for the appellant, submits that the Reference Court went wrong in adopting the multiplier of 12 for the purpose of capitalisation. According to him, for coffee plants, the multiplier to be applied shall not go above 8. Applying 12 as the multiplier the capitalisation value arrived at by the Reference Court is Rs. 40,020/-. Land Acquisition Officer had assessed the value at Rs. 30,633/-. Therefore, the Reference Court decided that the respondent-claimant was entitled to get the balance amount of Rs. 9387/- on that account.