BANT SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS judgment shall decide the present as well as 11 connected Letters Patent Appeals (LPA 946 to 952 of 1996, LPA No. 1165 of 1996, LPA No. 550 to 552 of 1997) filed under Clause X of Letters Patent against the judgment of the learned Single Judge dated March 12, 1986.

(2.) THESE cases relate to acquisition of about 40 acres of land in Neelpur and Saidkheri Tehsil Rajpura at public expense for a grain market. Notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) was published on May 2, 1980 followed by declaration under Section 6 of the Act on June 29, 1982. The Land Acquisition Collector gave his award on August 17, 1984. The Collector awarded compensation for different categories of land at rates ranging from Rs. 15,000/- to Rs. 60,000/- per acre. The award of the Collector was challenged by the landowners through references under Section 18 of the Act and the learned District Judge, Patiala, vide award dated July 29, 1988, enhanced market value of the land to relates ranging from Rs. 60,000/- to Rs. 1,70,000/- per acre. Learned Single Judge, vide judgment dated March 12, 1996, scrapped the categorisation adopted by the courts below. However, when the question came to assess market value, the learned Single Judge was pleased to reject three sale instances (Ex. P-12, Ex. P-27 and Ex. P-37) on the sole ground that these were certified copies of sale deeds and could not be relied upon to determine the market value of the acquired land unless vendors or vendees had been examined as witnesses. Reliance had been placed on Kumari Veeraiah v. State of Andhra Pradesh, 1995(4) SCC 136. The learned Single Judge reduced the compensation to the maximum that had been awarded by the Collector i.e. Rs. 60,000/- per acre for all categories of land. The different rates that had been awarded on the basis of belting were altogether ignored.

(3.) THE learned District Judge considered these sale deeds and came to the following conclusions :-