LAC Vs. BANTI DEVI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) ALL these appeals arise out of a common award made by the learned Reference Court and are being disposed of by a common judgment as they involve a common question of law and fact. The land of the respondents -claimants which is situated in village Balla was acquired by the State Government for construction of Gallian -Balla road. The details of the holdings of the respondents -claimants are given herein under: -2. Notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter referred to as the Act -) was issued on 3rd December, 1995. Being dissatisfied by the award made by the Land Acquisition Collector, the claimants -respondents preferred petitions under Section 18 of the Act. It is urged on behalf of the appellant that the learned Court is wrong in fixing the market value of land. The respondents -claimants produced sale instances before and after the notification under Section 4 of the Act, which was issued on 3.12.1995. The sales instances relied upon by the learned Reference Court are detailed herein under: -

(2.) THE claimants -respondents produced as many as five witnesses and the respondent relied upon the sole testimony of RW1 and submitted Ext.RA which is a sale deed dated 20.5.1995 with respect to five biswas of land situated in village Balla. The learned Judge while considering the evidence and fixing the price of land holds that Ext.RA cannot be relied upon for the reason that no sale consideration was paid before the Registrar and secondly, land was sold by Sunka Ram in favour of Raghu Ram as the vendor was in dire need of money for domestic affairs. Therefore, it cannot be taken to be a sale transaction where the consideration had been fixed by free consent of parties.

(3.) ON the other aspect of the matter, i.e. fixing the value of land at Rs.10,000/ - per biswa after considering three sale deeds, the reasoning cannot be faulted with. 2/3rd deductions, which are substantial, have been made for determining the just compensation/sale price payable for this land. No other point is urged before me. All these appeals are therefore dismissed. All miscellaneous applications are disposed of. Costs on parties.