STATE OF U P Vs. AFZALUL HAQ

JUDGEMENT

(1.) SOME plots of land belonging to the claimant -Respondent situate within the municipal limits of Pilibhit were acquired by the Appellant under the Land Acquisition Act (hereinafter referred to as the Act) for construction of a by pass -road. In support of their claim for compensation the Respondent placed reliance on certain sale deeds as exemplars before the Land Acquisition Officer. Relying on one of them the Land Acquisition Officer fixed the rate of compensation at the rate of Rs. 2.84 per sq. yard. He, however, deducted 50% of the compensation towards expenses for development of the land.

(2.) THEREAFTER at the Instance of the claimant -Respondent a reference was made to the District Judge for determination of compensation under Section 18 of the Act. The claimant -Respondent was claiming compensation at the rate of Rs. 10/ - per sq. yard. The District Judge after going through the material on record, however, agreed with the Land Acquisition Officer and relying on the sale deed on which reliance had been placed by the Land Acquisition Officer came to the conclusion that the compensation payable to the claimant -Respondent was to be determined at the rate of Rs. 2.84 per sq. yard. He, however, disagreed with the Land Acquisition Officer in so for as deduction of 50 per cent of the compensation towards the charges for development was concerned. The District Judge pointed out that deduction towards expenses for development could be made where large track of land was acquired for planned development and it was necessary to improve the land before buildings were constructed thereon. In a case where small pieces of land were acquired for construction of a by pass road the principle of deduction of some amount towards charges for development of the land was not applicable.

(3.) IT was then urged by the counsel for the Appellant that since no written objection has been filed by the claimant -Respondent under Section 9 of the Act the District Judge could not award compensation higher than that awarded by the Land Acquisition Officer. Reliance in support of this submission has been placed on a decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Dilawarsab Babusab Mullasab v. Special Land Acquisition Officer : (1975) 1 SCC 158. A perusal of Paragraph 10 of the report indicates that that was a case where the parties bad not appeared before the Land Acquisition Officer and had not put forward any specific amount as compensation. Such is not the situation in the instant case. Here as is apparent from the award given by the District Judge the Land Acquisition Officer not only entertained the oral objection about the compensation but also permitted the claimant -Respondent to produce evidence which lie did. And it was on the basis of an exemplar that was produced before him that the Lind Acquisition Officer fixed the amount of compensation at the rate of Rs. 2.84 per sq. yard.