State of U.P. vs Mohd. Sharif and Others

Sibghat Ullah Khan, J.—These thirteen first appeals are directed against the common judgment, award and decree dated 16.10.1991 passed by Xth Additional District Judge, Bulandshahar in thirteen L.A. references being L.A. Reference No, 211 to 214, 427 to 435 all of 1990. L.A. Reference No. 212 of 1990. Arvind v. State was made the leading case. Land of the respondents situate in village Salavat Nagar Gangawali Pargana Agauta Tehsil and District Bulandshahar was acquired for Pratap-pur Rajvaha. Notification u/s 4 of Land Acquisition Act was issued on 22.7.1987. Special Land Acquisition Officer gave the award on 28.10.1989 offering the compensation at the rate of Rs. 22,000 -23,000 per pucca bigha. Before the reference court claimants-respondents claimed the market value at the rate of Rs. 50,000 per pucca bigha.

Claimants filed certified copies of two sale deeds before the reference court one executed on 16.3.1988 by Tej Pal in favour of Maqsood and other on 31.12.1985 by Brij Bhushan in favour of Iqbal. Claimants also filed certified copies of judgments passed in two references, i.e., judgment dated 18.3.1991 passed by IInd Additional District Judge, Bulandshahar in L.A. Reference Nos. 17, 18 and 19 all of 1991, other judgment was given by District Judge, Bulandshahar on 8.3.1988 in six L.A. References the leading one being L.A. Reference No. 56 of 1986. L.A. Reference Nos. 17 to 19 of 1991 related to village Saidpur. In the judgment dated 18.3.1991 market value was held to be Rs. 52,000 per bigha on the basis of sale deed executed by Bharat Singh on 19.4.1985. Unfortunately in the said judgment the date of Section 4 notification or date of award or purpose of acquisition has not been mentioned. As far as judgment in L.A. Reference No. 56 of 1986 and other References is concerned the same is related to Section- 4 notification dated 20.12.1984. Award in the said case was given by Special Land Acquisition Officer on 16.2.1986. The matter related to village Birawali, Saidpur and another village. In the said case a sale deed of 25.3.1985 was relied upon through which 1/4 share in 1 bigha 9 biswas and 5 biswansies was sold for Rs. 19,000. However, as maximum rate had been claimed at Rs. 40,000 hence compensation at the said rate was directed to be paid. The exemplar relied upon was of a date subsequent to Section-4 notification.

In the impugned award it is mentioned that S.L.A.O. had offered the market value in the following manner:

The court below/reference court took into consideration the details of the sale deeds executed within three years from the date of Section- 4 notification available on the file of S.L.A.O. after summoning the said file. S.L.A.O. had determined the market value on the basis of the sale deed at serial No. 18. The claimants contended that it ought to have been fixed on the basis of the sale deed at serial No. 8 executed by Bhagwani in favour of Jai Prakash and Om Prakash dated 28.4.1986 at the rate of Rs. 32,000 and odd per bigha. Sale deed at serial No. 18 taken as exemplar by S.L.A.O. was the land of Jungle Awwal Khaki and Jungle Doyam Khaki type. Learned reference court also considered the sale deeds at serial Nos. 4, 7, 8, 14 and 16. S.L.A.O. had rejected the said deeds on the ground that land sold through the same was near abadi. The reference court held that the rate should be fixed on the basis of the sale deed denoting highest rate. In the judgment of the reference court itself it is mentioned that the land sold through sale deed at serial No. 8 was near abadi and the kind of the land was Jungle Awwal Aavi. In paragraph-13 reference court mentioned that the date of Section- 4 notification was 23.10.1989 hence the sale deed at serial No. 8 executed in April, 1986 required increase. Ultimately reference court determined the market value of the three types of lands at the rate of Rs. 35,000 per bigha, Rs. 30.000 per bigha and Rs. 29,000 per bigha. The reference court wrongly mentioned that date of Section 4 notification was 23.10.1989 or 28.10.1989. As mentioned in para-2 of the same judgment it was the date of award and not date of Section- 4 notification. The date of Section- 4 notification as mentioned in the reference sent by S.L.A.O. is 22.7.1987.

The approach of the learned District Judge in placing reliance upon the details of the sale deeds sent by the office of the Sub Registrar to S.L.A.O. is utterly wrong. Supreme Court in Chimanlal Hargovinddas Vs. Special Land Acquisition Officer, Poona and Another, , has held that it cannot be done. The Supreme Court has further held that market value can be determined by the reference court on the basis of evidence brought on record before the reference court and the details of the sale deeds considered by the S.L.A.O. cannot be made basis by the reference court for determining market value.

Through the sale deed executed by Brij Bhushan Sharma in favour of Mohd. Iqbal (filed before the reference court) 2 bigha 14 biswas and 6 biswansies pucca land of village (mauza) Tajpur was sold for Rs. 80,500 on 30.12.1985. The rate comes to slightly less than Rs. 30,000 per bigha. 25% increase is to be given for the reason that the said sale deed was executed more than one and half year before the date of Section 4 notification. Accordingly, the rate would come to about Rs. 37,000 per bigha. Jaswant Singh, local amin appeared as witness of State (D.W.-1) and admitted that villages Salavat Nagar Gangawali and Tajpur were adjacent to each other. Pargana of both the villages is same, i.e., Agauta. Accordingly, the impugned judgment cannot be sustained on the basis of the sale deed dated 28.4.1986, copy of which was not filed before the reference court. However, it can be sustained on the basis of the sale deed of the adjoining village dated 30.12.1985 certified copy of which was filed before the reference court. Market value of same kind of agricultural land in adjoining villages is almost same.

In view of the above, all the appeals are dismissed.