Joginder Singh vs State of Punjab

G.S. Singhvi, J.

The only prayer made in these appeals is for the modification of the judgment of the learned Single Judge and for enhancement of the compensation awarded to the appellants to the tune of Rs. one lac per acre.

The land of the appellants is situated within the revenue estate of village Manakpur, Tehsil Rajpura, District Patiala. Vide notification dated 4.12.1982 issued under section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1984, the Government of Punjab acquired the appellants'' land and that of others for the construction of S.Y.L. Canal. In all, 72.02 acres of land falling in the revenue estate of village Manakpur was acquired. Vide his award dated 30.4.1984, the Land Acquisition Collector granted compensation at the rate of Rs. 55,000/ per acre for Gair Mumkin Abadi land, Rs. 27,500/ per acre for chahi land and Rs. 1,100/ per acre for Gair Mumkin land. The learned District Judge, Patiala to whom the applications filed by the appellants and others under section 18 of the Act of 1894 were referred for adjudication, enhanced the compensation payable to the land holders in the following manner :

(1)

Abadi land

Rs. 1,24,000/ per acre.

(2)

Chahi Land

Rs. 62,000/ per acre./

(3)

Gair Mumkin land

Rs. 30,000/ per acre.

In the Regular First Appeal filed by the appellants, the learned Single Judge upheld the compensation awarded by the District Judge. While doing so, he relied on the judgment of this Court in State of Punjab and others v. Nachhatar Singh and others, 1988(2) R.C.R.(Criminal) 439 : 1987 L.A.C.C. 327.

In support of these appeals filed for enhancement of the compensation, Shri Pritam Saini invited our attention to the judgments dated 28.7.1993 and 17.8.1993 passed respectively in L.P.A. No. 1051 of 1992, State of Punjab v. Surjan Singh through his LRs and others'' and L.P.A. No, 220 of 1993, State of Punjab v. Kushal Singh and others and submitted that in respect of the land situated in villages Khera Gajju @ Gajju Khera and Powala, compensation at the rate of Rs. 1,25,000/ and Rs. 1,50,000/ per acre respectively has been awarded for chahi land and, therefore, compensation awarded to the appellants should be enhanced accordingly. Shri Saini submitted that the learned Single Judges against whose orders L.P.A. Nos. 1051 of 1992 and 220 of 1993 were filed, had relied on the settlement arrived at between the then Chief Minister and the members of the S.Y.L. Action Committee and as the Coordinate Benches have affirmed the enhancement of compensation made in favour of the similarly situated land holders, the appellants should be given the benefit of the aforesaid settlement. The alternative argument made by Shri Saini is that even if the settlement arrived at between the Chief Minister and the Action Committee is held to be unenforceable, the award of compensation at the rate of Rs. one lac per acre in respect of chahi land is justified in view of the development potential of the land in dispute. Learned Advocate General invited our attention to the recent judgment dated 19.8.1997 passed in L.P.A. No. 85 of 1989 Uttam Singh and 15 others v. State of Punjab & anr., 1997(4) R.C.R.(Civil) 395 and urged that the socalled settlement arrived at between the Chief Minister and the S.Y.L. Action Committee has been held to be unenforceable and, therefore, no relief should be given to the appellants on the basis of that settlement. However, he was unable to convince the Court as to why the benefit of enhanced compensation should not be allowed to the appellants at least at the rate of Rs. one lac in view of the fact that for the land falling in other revenue estates higher compensation has been awarded by the learned Single Judges.

A perusal of the award passed by the Reference Court shows that while dealing with the evidence produced by the claimants, the learned District Judge noted that the land of village Manakpur was in a better position visa vis the land falling in village Gajju Khera. This is evident from the following observations made by the Reference Court in paragraph 15 of the judgment :

"15. This takes me to the evidence led by the claimants. They have produced oral evidence and voluminous documentary evidence for substantiating their claim that the Collector had not awarded the true market value of the acquired land. Before adverting to the documentary evidence I would like to mention certain facts which have come in the depositions of the various witnesses. From the evidence of Sh. Ram Chand (AW1) Assistant Office Qanungo, Rajpura, it is established that the revenue estates of Mankpura and Gajju Khera are having the same terrain. From the fertility point of view the lands of village Manakpur have an edge over the land of village Gajju Khera. Both these revenue estates adjoin each other. Village Manakpur is on the upstream side while Gajju Khera on the down stream side. Still further upstream and adjoining to village Manakpur is the revenue estate of village Bassain while further downstream from village Gajju Khera is the revenue estate of village Bhatria. In other words revenue estates of village Bassain, Manakpur, Gajju Khera and Bhatria adjoin each other and they are situated in a row and the alignment of SYL Canal has passed through all these revenue estates... village Bassain being the most upstream and village Bhatria being the most downstream. This witness has further deposed that village Bassain and Manakpur abut on the pacca road which connects Rajpura via Devi Nagar etc. to Chandigarh. Location wise village Manakpur has a pivotal position. As many as four roads from neighbouring villages converge to this village. In his crossexamination, this witness disclosed the reason why he graded the lands of village Manakpur higher than those of village Gajju Khera. In village Manakpur subsoil water is available in abundance while it is not so in village Gajju Khera.

From the testimony of Dev Raj (AW2) Patwari, revenue circle Manakpur and the deposition of Nathu Ram (AW3) a Lambardar and Special Attorney of claimant Lachman Dev trappings of a town which are available in village Manakpur stand established. This village can legitimately claim to be a town. It has a Dispensary, a Veterinary Hospital, a High School for boys, a middle school for Girls, telegraph office, Sub Post Office, Grain Market and the branch of a Scheduled Bank. On the road connecting this village with Chandigarh there is great rush of passenger traffic. Nearly 24 buses passed through this village every day. Shri Dev Raj has deposed that half hourly Busservice to Rajpura and Chandigarh is available in the Bus Adda of this village. This witness has further deposed that none of these features which are special to this village are there in the neighbouring villages of Gajju Khera, Bassain and Bhatria. The above facts have been reiterated on oath by Nathhu Ram also and G.P. did not crossexamine them on any of these points. Nathu Ram being a Lambardar is well qualified to depose regarding the market value of the lands of his village. He stated that at the relevant time, the market value of the acquired land was Rs. 1,00,000/ per acre and subsequently there had been great hike in prices and by the time the witness deposed the price had gone up further and now a days one acre of land fetches Rs. 5,00,000/. In the crossexamination of Nathu Ram it was elicited that in his village there are about 50 shops, three Fertilizers Depots, one Dairy Farm, four shops of lathemachines, several tractor repair workshops, besides a vegetable market where fresh vegetables are auctioned every day. The oral evidence thus clearly proves that it is misnomer to call Manakpur a village. For all intents and purposes, it is a flourishing town."

While dealing with the sale transactions produced by the claimants, the learned Reference Court observed :

"16. Next comes the documentary evidence on which claimants are banking. They have produced two sale deeds, and certified copies of five awards, one of them is of this Court and the remaining four are that of the Collector Ex.A2 sale deed dated 15.5.1981 whereby five marlas of land was sold for Rs. 3000/. At this rate the average price of an acre would come to Rs. 96,000/ and if we add up the expenses of the sale deed, this amount will swell to almost to Rs. 1,00,000/. Ex.A3 is the sale deed dated 2.6.1983 pertaining to 15 marlas of land which was sold for consideration of Rs. 22,784/. At this rate the average price of an acre would come to Rs. 2,43,000/. If the expenses of the sale deed which are borne by the venders are also included the price of an acre will touch the figure of Rs. 2,50,000/. The second sale took place some six months subsequent to the notification. Law provides that only these sale instances should be taken into account for determining the market value which have taken place on or near about the date of notification. In case acquisition is done for a purpose which gives fillip to the development activity in the vicinity of the acquired land a Court will view with suspicion the transactions that might take place subsequent to the date of notification. In such a situation the hike in the price of the properties in the neighbouring of the acquired land is directly referable to the acquisition itself and law forbids the giving of benefit of this factor to the claimant. In the instant case the purpose of the acquisition is such which would no way help in creating favourable circumstances for the development of the locality. On the contrary the digging of a huge canal with abnormally raised banks would dampen the excitement of the prospective buyers. In these circumstances the fact that sale Ex.A3 took place subsequent to the date of notification would not make any difference and the same can legitimately be taken into consideration. Both these sales clearly indicate that the land of village Manakpur are much more valuable than the rates awarded by the Collector. As the chunks of land covered by these sales cannot be applied as such for awarding compensation of substantial areas of land running into several acres. However, these rates can be made relevant in the context of large tracts of land also by making some slashing in the price in accordance with the guide lines laid down in various rulings of the Supreme Court. This exercise may not be called for as we have other readymade material available on the file for computing the market value. Nevertheless, these sale transactions clearly demonstrate that the Collector had awarded compensation in a very stingy and miserably manner."

The learned Reference Court then proceeded to analyse the awards passed in respect of the land falling in villages Bhatris, Gajju Khera etc. and concluded that compensation awarded to the land holders deserved to be enhanced. He, therefore, passed the judgment dated 28.11.1986 and directed the enhancement of the compensation.

The learned Advocate General was fair enough to admit that situation of the land falling in the revenue estate of village Manakpur is better than that of the village Gajju Khera. He was also fair enough to concede that no appeal has been filed by the State against the judgments, dated 28.7.1993 and 17.8.1993. Therefore, we find substantial force in the argument of Shri Saini that compensation awarded to the appellants in respect of chahi land should be enhanced at least to Rs. one lac per acre, if not more.

However, we are unable to agree with Shri Saini that the socalled settlement arrived at between the Principal Secretary, acting on behalf of the Chief Minister and the members of the SYL Action Committee cannot be enforced in view of the judgment dated 19.8.1997 passed in L.P.A. No. 85 of 1989, Uttam Singh and 15 others v. State of Punjab and anr., 1997(4) R.C.R.(Civil) 395

In the result, the appeals are allowed. The judgment of the learned Single Judge is set aside and the one passed by the Reference Court is modified by directing that in respect of chahi land, the appellants shall be paid compensation at the rate of Rs. one lac per acre. The appellants shall also become entitled to the benefit of the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Act, 1984 in respect of the enhanced compensation.

Appeals allowed.