COLLECTOR, DISTRICT FARIDKOT Vs. DEVINDER SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This judgment disposes of a bunch of 37 R.F. As. Nos. 2423, 2425 to 2488, 2456, 2576 to 2587 and 2824 to 2827 of 1986; the first 20 by the State of Punjab and the remaining by the landowner claimants, whose lands stand acquired as a result of the notification published under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act (for short, the Act) on December 20, 1977. It is not in dispute that an area measuring more than 50 acres falling within the revenue estate of village Danewala has been acquired by the State Government for the construction of storage godowns by the Food Corporation of India. It is also not in dispute that since the issuance of this notification this land (perhaps with effect from the year 1982 as per the statement of A.W. 2 Jugraj Singh, Executive Officer of the Municipal Committee, Malout) has been included within the municipal limits of the two. Though the Land Acquisition Collector initially evaluated it on the basis of its agricultural kind and quality, yet the lower Court, as a result of the references sought by the claimants under Section 18 of the Act, has assessed its market value at Rs. 1,20,000/- per acre in the light of its potentiality for being used for purposes other than agricultural. Both the sides are not satisfied with this award and have preferred these appeals. So the common question that arises for consideration is as to what was the market value of the acquired land on December 20, 1977.

(2.) For fixing the market value as above, the lower Court has primarily depended on sale instances Exhibits A. 16 and A. 23 pertaining to the sale of 1 kanal area in each case. Both these sales, however, were effected after the notification under Section 4 of the Act, i.e., on June 30, 1981 and June 6, 1979, respectively. Another material which weighed with the lower Court for recording the above noted conclusion was an earlier award (Exhibit A. 24) pertaining to the acquisition of about 70 acres of land for establishing a grain market at Malout. That acquisition was effected in pursuance of a notification published under Section 4 of the Act on June 30, 1976. As per that award, the market value of that land was determined at Rs. 1,40,000/- per acre.

(3.) The primary submission of the learned counsel for the claimant appellants while conceding that the sale instances Exhibits A. 16 and A. 23 as relied upon by the lower Court were not very relevant for the purpose of determining the market value of the acquired land, is that the sale instances Exhibits A. 6 to A. 10 provide the best possible material to answer the question posed in the earlier part of the judgment. According to the learned counsel, an average rate disclosed by these instances can well be the determining factor for fixing the market value of the acquired land. I, however, find no merit in this submission. These transactions concededly relate to small and insignificant areas measuring from 3 marlas to 1 kanal. Moreover, a reading of the copies of the sale deeds pertaining to these sales in the light of the Shajra Aks, Exhibit R. 1 produced and proved by Hardev Singh, R.W. 1 clearly establishes that the areas covered by these transactions lie on Abohar Dabwali road and, therefore, these transactions cannot by any stretch of imagination be taken as comparable sales. I, therefore, refute this stand of the learned counsel for the claimants. Equally meritless is the contention that the suit land and the land covered by the Award Exhibit A 29 had similar potential and, therefore, the claimants are entitled to a better price than what was awarded in that case on account of the passage of time between the two acquisitions. The land covered by that award again abuts the main road, that is, Abohar-Dabwali road. The presently acquired land is nowhere close to it and in the light of Exhibit R. 1 and P. 1 is not even accessible from that road.