RATTAN SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB AND OTHERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In these Civil Writ Petitions Nos. 3588 to 3590 of 1980, the same award (dated July 20, 1972) of the Land Acquisition Tribunal, Ludhiana, is impugned primarily on the ground that the same has been passed in the light of a provisions which has later been declared as void or non-est by the Full Bench of this Court in Devinder Kaur v. Ludhiana Improvement Trust, Ludhiana and others, 1975 AIR(P&H) 241.

(2.) The land was acquired for the Ludhana Town Improvement Trust under the Land Acquisition Act as modified by Section 59 of the Punjab Town Improvement Act, 1922 (for short, the Act). One such modification was introduced vide Clause (10) of the Schedule to the Act. According to this amendment, sub-section (3) was added to Section 23 of the Land Acquisition Act and vide clause (a) of this sub-section it was made incumbent on the acquiring authorities to determine the market value of the acquired land "according to the use to which the land was put at the date with reference to which the market value is to be determined under the clause". This sub-section (3) as introduced by the Town Improvement has, as already indicated, been struck down by the Full Bench in Devinder Kaur's case . Thus the following conclusion recorded by the Tribunal in the light of this sub-section (3) is wholly unsustainable :-

(3.) Thus for this reason alone, the impugned award of the Land Acquisition Tribunal dated December 28, 1972, is set aside and the cases are sent back to it for decision afresh in accordance with law and the observations made above. The parties through their counsel are directed to appear before the Tribunal on June 13, 1983. I, however, pass no order as to costs.