CHHOTO Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS judgment shall dispose of three Regular First Appeals, bearing Nos. 1725, 1757 and 1758 of 1982. The earlier instituted appeal i.e. Regular First Appeal No. 1725 of 1982 has been filed by the land owners, whereas the other two appeals i.e. Regular First Appeals No. 1757 and 1758 of 1982 have been filed by the State of Haryana. However, all these three appeals are arising from the common judgment pertaining to the same acquisition.

(2.) VIDE notification dated 1.4.1980 issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'), the State of Haryana acquired certain land of two villages, namely Sidipur and Lowa Kalan for a public purpose i.e. for construction of road from Sidipur to Mundera. Vide two separate awards, one for the land of Village Sidipur and the other for the land of Village Lowa Kalan, the Land Acquisition Officer assessed the market value of the acquired lands at the following rates :-

(3.) LEARNED counsel for the land owners (appellants in RFA No. 1725 of 1992) submitted that while determining the market value of the acquired land, learned Additional District Judge relied upon only one sale transaction i.e. Ex. P1 (Ex. P4 is also the same sale transaction). The other sale transactions relied upon by the land owners as well as the State were not taken into consideration as those were not found to be relevant for determination of the market value in the instant case. The sale transaction Ex. P1 pertains to the land within the Abadi of Village Lowa Kalan and it was situated at a distance of 825 feet from the acquired land. Learned counsel for the land owners further submitted that vide Ex. P1, the land measuring 1 Biswa was sold for Rs. 5,000/-, but the learned Additional District Judge took the sale price of the said land as Rs. 1,500/- as only this amount was paid by the vendee before the Sub Registrar and the remaining amount of Rs. 3,500/- was paid by the vendee to the vendor at the time of agreement of sale as earnest money. It was observed by learned Additional District Judge that since the agreement of sale was not produced, therefore, the sale deed will be deemed to be for a consideration of Rs. 1,500/- only. By taking the sale consideration of the said sale deed as Rs. 1,500/- the learned Additional District Judge assessed market value of the acquired land at Rs. 10/- per square yard. Learned counsel for the land owners submitted that the aforesaid conclusion drawn by the learned Additional District Judge is not valid and legal. Merely because some amount was paid as earnest money and was not paid before the Sub Registrar at the time of execution of the sale deed, it cannot be said that the sale transaction took place only for the amount which was paid before the Sub Registrar.