THE STATE OF PUNJAB Vs. INDER SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) LAND measuring 18.807 acres in Sultanpur and 1.153 acres in Suba Akbarpur in District Ambala was acquired by the Government for a public purpose, namely, for the extension of 132/220 KV. Grid Sub Station at Dhulkot (Ambala). Notifications under sections 4 and 6 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, hereinafter called the Act, were issued on 19/23rd April, 1962, and 10th of August, 1962, respectively. In the acquired land in Sultanpur, Kehar Singh, Kundan Lal and Inder Singh owned 24 Bighas, 10 Biswas, 34 Bighas and 84 Bighas, respectively. It was conceded that the land of all these claimants was Barani. On 22nd of January, 1933, the Land Acquisition Collector gave his award whereby he assessed the Barani land at Rs. 2,662/ - per acre, which would come to about Rs. 560/ - per Bigha. As regards the Chahi land, he fixed the value at Rs. 3,000/ - per acre which came to about Rs. 637/ - per Bigha.

(2.) AS the above mentioned three landowners were not satisfied with the award, they made applications to the Collector under section 18 of the Act requiring that the matter be referred to the learned Additional District Judge, Ambala. According to Kehar Singh and Kundan Lal, the price of the acquired land was under no circumstances less than Rs. 1,000/ - per Bigha, whereas Inder Singh claimed Rs. 1,200/ - per Bigha. All three of them also made a grievance about the fact that no severance allowance was awarded as compensation to them by the Land Acquisition Collector. Since all the claims had arisen out of the same award of the Collector and also because the lands of the claimants were situate in the same village, these three claims were consolidated and with the consent of the parties, the evidence was recorded in one case, namely, of Kehar Singh. All these claims were decided together by the learned Additional District Judge by one order dated 6th of May, 1964. He fixed the price of the land at Rs. 1,000/ - per Bigha. Regarding the severance of the land of the claimants, his finding was that none of them had brought on record any satisfactory evidence to prove their case on that point. Against this decision, three appeals (Regular First Appeal Nos. 289 to 291 of 1964) were filed by the State of Punjab against the above mentioned three claimants. This order will dispose of all the three connected appeals.

(3.) IT is undisputed that the relevant date for assessing the said price of the land is the date on which section 4 notification was issued, that is, 23rd of April, 1962. Evidence, both oral and documentary, had been produced by the claimants in support of their case. A number of mutations evidencing the sales of lands in Sultanpur had been placed on the record. On 30th of August, 1950, 1 Bigha 18 Biswas of Barani land was sold for Rs. 7,600/ - vide Exhibit A. 18. On 3rd of August, 1952, 1 Bigha 11 Biswas of Land (Banjar Qadim) was sold for Rs. 6,200/ - vide Exhibit A. 11 and 1 Bigha (Banjar Qadim) for Rs. 4,000/ - vide Exhibit A. 17. On 25th of December, 1957, there was a sale transaction regarding 4 Bighas for Rs. 2,000/ - vide Exhibit A 16. On 27th of August, 1958, 11 Bighas were sold for Rs. 7,000/ - vide Exhibit A. 15. On 15th of September, 1958, land measuring 3 Bighas 16 Biswas was sold for a sale consideration of Rs. 1,400/ - vide Exhibit A 13. It might be mentioned that a mutation regarding the sale of 1 Bigha 14 Biswas for Rs. 10,000/ - on 29th of July, 1969, vide Exhibit A. 14, was also produced. From the said mutation, it appeared that alongwith 1 Bigha 14 Biswas, some other land had also been sold by the vendor for the sale consideration of Rs. 10,000/ -. That being so, this transaction would not be taken into consideration for assessing the market value of the land acquired. On 29th of September, 1962, 100 sq. yards were sold for Rs. 150/ - vide Exhibit A. 1. On 26th of April, 1963, land measuring 2 Bighas was sold for Rs. 4,000/ - vide Exhibit A. 10.