JAGDISH RAI Vs. LAND ACQUISITION TRIBUNAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This judgment shall dispose of Civil Writ Petition Nos. 4309 to 4313 of 1985. The facts of the case lie in a very narrow compass and may thus be noticed.

(2.) The Improvement Trust, Khanna, District Ludhiana proposed to acquire land measuring 5.5 Acres approximately in pursuance of the notice published on 14th September, 1973 under Section 36 of the Punjab Town Improvement Act (hereinafter to be referred as 'the Act'). The land is situated in the revenue estate of Khanna Kalan and the same was acquired for the development of shopping centre along Karnail Singh Road, Khanna. The Government of Punjab accorded its sanction on 3.12.1975 under Section 41 of the Act. Ultimately, only land measuring 29 Kanals 1-3/4 Marlas was acquired. The Land Acquisition Collector vide his award dated 24.2.1977 awarded compensation at the rate of Rs. 1,88,731.00 per acre. On reference under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, the Tribunal evaluated the market value of the acquired land at Rs. 307/- per square yard upto a depth of 43 feet of the land touching any of the main roads and Rs. 205/- per square yard for the remaining land.

(3.) The petitioner-landowners have filed the present writ petitions challenging the legality and the validity of the Award of the Tribunal. The learned counsel for the petitioner-landowners has at the very outset been frank enough to concede before this Court that this Court cannot re-appraise all the evidence to make any enhancement in the compensation amount. However, his argument is two-fold. It has, firstly, been argued that the Tribunal has committed an error in not awarding the statutory benefits of the amended provisions of the Land Acquisition Act. Secondly, the argument of the learned counsel for the petitioners is that the Tribunal has committed an apparent error inasmuch as the land falling upto the depth of 43' has only been evaluated at Rs. 307/- per square yard. His precise argument is that the land falling beyond the depth of 43' deserved to be evaluated at Rs. 307/- per square yard. On the other hand, the counsel for the Improvement Trust has argued that the petitioners are not entitled to the grant of the statutory benefits of the amended provisions of the Land Acquisition Act. While refuting the claim of the petitioners for evaluation of the land beyond the depth of 43', it has been argued that there is nothing wrong with the Award of the Tribunal in this respect and that in any case while deciding a writ petition the High Court would be exceeding its jurisdiction in evaluating the land beyond 43' at a higher price than the one which has been fixed in the impugned Award.