SINGH AND COMPANY Vs. COLLECTOR,NAINITAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BOTH these appeals arise of the same judg­ment and order passed by the Refer­ence Court and similar questions are in­volved for determination in these ap­peals, therefore, they are being decided by this common judgment.

(2.) FIRST Appeal No. 175 of 2001 has been preferred by the claimant/ ap­pellant against the judgment and award dated 30-05-1989 passed by the III Additional District Judge, Nainital in Land Acquisition Case No. 104 of. 1983, M/s Singh and Company versus Collector, Nainital, whereby the refer­ence made by the Collector, Nainital under Sec. 18 of the Land Acquisition Act was allowed partly and the claim­ant was held entitled for compensation of Rs. 15,89,072.00 for the acquired land and Rs. 2,01,600.00 for the trees and buildings and on these amounts solatium at the rate of 30% along with interest @ 12% per annum on the in­creased amount of compensation from the date of possession of the acquired property till the date of payment, whereas First Appeal No. 673 of 2001 has been preferred by the Collector, Nainital (respondent in First Appeal No. 175 of 2001) against the aforesaid judgment and award dated 30-05-1989 passed in L.A. Case No. 104 of 1983 for setting aside the order passed by the III Additional District Judge, Nainital and further to confirm the award given by the Land Acquisition Officer, Nainital in the said case. On the other hand, the State/ Collector, Nainital has also come up in First Appeal No. 673 of 2001.

(3.) AGGRIEVED by the said award dated 28-02-1983, the claimant M/s Singh and Company through its owners made reference through the Collector to the District Judge, Nainital under Sec­tion 18 of the Act on 8-4-1983 for de­cision and determination on the grounds, inter alia, that the land ac­quired is situate in the heart of the Nainital town and very close to the main market and other important places of Nainital town, such as, O.T.S., Nainital Club, Polytechnic etc. and pos­sesses greater valve. The exemplar sale deed relied by the Special Land Acqui­sition Officer is not so close to the main market and is very far from it. That the land acquired has wrongly been classi­fied and grossly under valued and the valuation given in the award is quite unreasonable and .beyond the actual facts. That from all the sides the land is approachable by motor road. The whole locality is a posh locality. The present rates of this area is in between Rs. 15/- to 20/- per sq. feet but the ap­plicant claimed the value of the land at the rate of Rs. 15/- per sq. feet. Only as the whole area of the land, measur­ing 4.56 acres is acquired in one lot and the minimum rate which has been fixed by the District Magistrate, Nainital of this area were claimed by the appli­cant. That the award has been given after many deductions. The deductions made by the Special Land Acquisition Officer are quite wrong and illegal and has been made arbitrarily.