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TMI Blog1993 (10) TMI 369X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Civil Appeals Nos. 946-948 of 1977 are that of the claimants and in them further enhanced compensation for the acquired lands is sought from the State and the company for whose benefit the State acquired the lands. 3. Material facts which have given rise to these appeals lie in a narrow compass: (i) Certain land situated in the Village Ranhera, Tehsil Ballabhgarh, District Gurgaon (Haryana), abutting Delhi-Mathura Road (G.T.Road) were needed by Messre Printers House Pvt. Ltd., hereinafter referred to as 'the Company , to set up its factory for the manufacture of printing machinery. A request was made by the Company to the Punjab Government to acquire that said lands, for its benefit. The Punjab Government, which conceded to the request of the Company, by a preliminary notification under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, hereinafter referred to as 'the Act', published in the Punjab Gazette of April 7, 1961, proposed the acquisition of the said lands. Those lands measuring about 12 acres 3 kanals 4 marlas, comprised of 8 kanals 6 marlas (5020.50 Sq. Yds.) and 1 kanal 19 marlas (1179. 75 Sq. Yds.) of lands owned by Mst. Saiyandan, 9 kanals ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... arket-value of 9 kanals 2 marlas of the acquired land of Messrs Cold Storage and Food Products comprised in Killas Nos. 11 and 12 at ₹ 6,000 an and of 6 Kanals and 15 marlas of the acquired land of the same claimant comprised in Killa Nos. 21 and 22 at the rate of ₹ 4,800 an acre. Besides, it determined the market-value of 73 kanals and 2 marlas of the acquired land of the Masjid in Village Ranhera at the Rate of ₹ 4,800 an acre. In addition, it awarded solatium at 15 per cent on the enhanced amount of market-value of the acquired lands and interest at 4 per cent per annum on the enhanced compensation of the acquired lands from the date of taking their possession until the date payment or deposit of the amount of compensation. (v) However, the claimants as well as the State, who were dissatisfied with the common award and separate decrees of the Reference Court, preferred appeals therefrom in the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, as adverted to by us already. (vi) The said appeals before the High Court were heard by a Division Bench comprised of Mr. Justice S.S. Sandhawalia and Mr. Justice Man Mohan Singh Gujaral. As the said judges rendered diff ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... if so, at what rate? 6. We shall now consider and decide the said points in their serial order. Point - 1: If the amount of compensation awardable for the lands acquired under the Act is required to be determined by a Civil Court, such amount of compensation has to be determined by taking into consideration the market-value of the lands on the date of publication in Government Gazette, of the preliminary Notification under Sub-section (1) of Section 4 of the Act, as is envisaged under the First Clause of Sub-section (1) of Section 23 of the Act admits of no controversy. Such market-value of the acquired land which has to be determined by the Courts ought to be the price which a willing vendor of the land might reasonably expect to obtain from a willing purchaser, has been a well accepted principle of valuation of acquired lands, ever since that the principle was expounded by the Privy Council in the case of Vyricherala Narayana Gajapatiraju Bahadur v. Revenue Divisional Officer, Vizagapatnam, known as 'Chemudu case'. In fact, this Court has approved the correctness of that principle by stating that the market-value means the price that a willing p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... fetched in comparable sale cannot furnish the 'prices basis' for determining the market value of the acquired land. However, if any differing feature of factor in a land covered by comparable sale admits of adjustment in terms of money, depending on whether it is plus factor or minus factor, the market-value of the acquired land is determined either by increasing it price or decreasing its price vis-a-vis the price fetched for land under comparable sale. What applies to comparable sale, equally applies to comparable award, if such award is relied upon as that furnishing a price-basis for determination of the market-value of the land, cannot be disputed. Thus, the best evidence for determining the market-value of the acquired land could be an authentic transaction of sale relating to the very acquired land or a portion thereof of any other land which could be favourably compared with the acquired land. The same would be the position when the available evidence relates to land covered by a previous award. 8. If 'Comparable Sales Method of valuation of land' is adopted for determining the market-value of an acquired plot of land, it generally holds goods dete ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... persons and the unit rate which each of the owners (Claimants) could have by sale of their respective plots in the open market, could not have been the same, for the features (factors) i.e., advantages and disadvantages, possessed by each plot varied greatly. 11. Mst. Saiyadan (Appellant in C.A. No. 946 of 1977), Masjid of Village Ranhera (Appellant in C.A. No. 947 of 1977) and M/s. Cold Storage Food Products (Appellant in C.A. NO. 948 of 1977) are the owners of the several acquired plots of land aggregating to 99 kanals and 4 marlas. Relying upon the evidence of C.W.1, Dyal Dass Patwari, Halqua Ballabhgarh, who was called as Court witness to the exact location of the acquired plots of lands with reference to a plan prepared by him, S.S. Sandhawalia, J. has referred to the fact situation in his judgment, thus : No serious challenge is posed to the correctness of the plan, Exhibit C.1 prepared from the official records and this would show that an Saidyadan, land-owner abuts on the Delhi- Mathura road with a frontage of nearly 23 karems or 44 yards thereon. The southern block of the land of Messrs Cold Storage and Food Products measuring 9 kanals and 2 marlas is i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of the acquired land has to be determined by 'Comparable Sales Method'. If a land sold under a sale-deed is comparable with the acquired land, then the courts will have, ordinarily, recourse to 'Comparable Sales Method of Valuation' to determine the market value of the acquired land, cannot be doubted. What is done under the 'Comparable Sales Method' of valuation of land is to find out the price fetched for sale of land under the sale-deed claimed to be comparable sale and take that price as that which the acquired land would have fetched, if its sales had been effected in the open market and determine the market value of the acquired land accordingly. The 'Comparable Sales Method of Valuation' of land is preferred to other known methods of valuation of land since the variety of factors appertaining to the land, which require adjustment by the Court (valuer) in determining the market value of the acquired land, would be the least. Where, however, certain factors appertaining to the land in a comparable sale has to be adjusted, it is done by varying the price of land covered by the sale, i.e. by adding certain amount to the price fetched for the land ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ation, the land under the sale of the market value determined for the land in the award could be taken by the Court as the 'price basis' for determining the market value of the acquired land under consideration. If there are more comparable sales or awards of the same type, no difficulty arises since the 'price basis' to be got from them would be common. But, difficulty arises when the comparable sales or awards are not of the same kind and when each of them furnish a different 'price basis'. This difficulty cannot be overcome by averaging the prices fetched by all the comparable sales or awards for getting the 'price basis' on which the market value of the acquired land could be determined. It is so, for the obvious reason that such 'price basis' may very largely depending even no comparable sales or awards. Moreover, 'price basis' got by averaging comparable sales or awards which are not of the same kind, cannot be a correct reflection of the price which the willing seller would have got from the willing buyer, if the acquired land had been sold in the market. For instance, in the case on hand, there are three claimants. The plots o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... purchased by the Globe Motors measures 99 kanals and 4 marlas. The area is thus more of less the same as the same as that of the acquired land. As regards the location, its frontage does not touch the G.T. Road but touches the Ballabhgarh Road. The situation of this plot can not be termed in any way better than the acquired land. The area acquired for the Gurgaon canal is with a very little width the quite a good length, and, therefore, it can not be compared with the acquired land in the sense of its dimensions. The land sold by Shaha-bu-din (A.W. 18) measuring 6 kanals, for ₹ 4,000 is again a small area. It would thus be seen that out of five instances, which have been found to be useful for arriving at the market value of the acquired land, three instances are of small plots whereas two are of big plots. It would thus be appropriate to draw the average and work out the price per square yard on the basis of the said transactions which comes to ₹ 4.60 per Sq. Yard. But some reduction has to be made on account of the acquired land being low lying. It would appear appropriate Chat the deduction of ₹ 1.60 per square yard be made from the average price as the entire ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of them being that where the acquired plots of land belong to different persons and do not have similar feature they should not be treated as a single unit for awarding a uniform rate of market value and the second of them being that where there are several comparable sales or awards produced for determining the market value of the acquired plots of land by 'Comparable Sales Method of valuation', it is not the average price reflected in such comparable sales or awards which should form the 'price basis' but it is the price reflected in the sale or award pertaining to a land closest or nearest to the acquired land, in all its features. As could be seen from their judgments, an obvious mistake is committed in determining the market value of acquired lands possessed of dissimilar features by applying the unwarranted principle of valuation adaptable in valuation of agricultural lands in a large tract of acquired agricultural land or vast extent of non-agricultural land or strip of agricultural or non-agricultural acquired land comprised of several plots of similar land on the basis of price fetched by a comparable sale of a similar plot of land or amount awarded in a co ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n shape and in no way superior to the land belonging to the Masjid. 23. In the Judgment of Gujaral, J. with which Judgment Dhillon, J. has agreed, reference to acquired plots of land is made thus: The acquired land measuring 99 kanals 4 marlas belongs to three different land-owners, namely, (1) Mst. Saiyadan widow of Jamal-ud-din, (2) Messrs Cold Storage and Food Products and (3) Masjid of Village Ranhera. The entire land is situated between the Grand Trunk Road, leading from Delhi to Mathura and the railway line connecting these two stations. A substantial part of the land of Mst. Saiyadan is situated on the Grand Trunk Road while only a small portion is at the other end next to the railway line. As regards the land of Messrs Cold Storage and Food Products, it is all situated on the G.T. Road but is in two parts flanking the plot of Mst. Saiyadan. The main plot which is on the south has a good frontage on the G.T. Road but the plot on the north has hardly any frontage and is only accessible to the G.T. Road through a small passage. So far as the land of Masjid is concerned, it is in one block behind the main plot of Mst. Saiyadan and the two plots of the Cold Sto ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... mmercial purposes an year or two earlier to the date of publication of the preliminary Notification in respect of the acquired lands under consideration. The evidence in the case shows that the acquired lands while had been located on one side of Delhi-Mathura Grand Trunk Road, where several industries had been either set up or were being set up, there were on the other side of that Road, General Hospital public part and public offices of the town of Ballabhgarh. It cannot, therefore, be disputed that the acquired lands had the potentiality for their user for industrial or commercial purposes. 27. Leaned counsel for the claimants, who are appellants in their appeals and respondents in the appeals or the opposite party, mainly relies upon tow sale-deeds Ext. A.W. 14/1 and Ext. A.w. 6/1 to support the claimants' claim for determination by us of the market value of the acquired lands at the rate of ₹ 10 per sq. yd. But, according to learned Counsel for M/s. Printers House Pvt. Ltd., the Company for whose benefit the lands concerned had been acquired and who appellants in their appeals and respondents in the claimants' appeals contends that the sale-deeds relied ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ur adjoins the land of Nawal Singh'. No doubt in the Map produced as Ext. A.W. 4/1, an area therein shaded in orange colour is mentioned as Globe Factory but that land is found on the map at a distant place from that of the land of Nawal Singh and belies the statement of Ami Ram in respect to its location. Moreover, from the said map, it is seen that the said land neither abuts the Delhi-Mathura Grand Trunk Road nor is in the vicinity of the acquired lands. It was argued on behalf of the claimants that the aforesaid land covered by the sale-deed since does not abut the Delhi-Mathura Grand Trunk Road, the market-value of the acquired lands which abut the Delhi-Mathura Grand Trunk Road should be regarded as that of higher value as compared with the land covered by the sale-deed. When certain facts are shown to exist, certain amount of guess would, no doubt, be there in drawing inferences while determining the market-value of land in acquisition cases. For instance, if the land sold to Globe Factory was show to adjoin the acquired land or show to have been situated in the closer vicinity of the acquired land, it was possible to say that the value fetched by land sold to Globe Fact ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... impression. I received the whole of the sale price amounting to ₹ 40,000 before the Sub-Registrar. The vendee paid the expenses of the registration and the stamp paper. The quality of my land sold to A.W.6 is at par with that of the acquired land. A large number of factories have been set up near the acquired land during the last 2 years. The acquired land adjoins the road as well as the railway line. 33. In his cross-examination this is what is elicited as to the amount of ₹ 40,000 received by him: I had deposited a sum of ₹ 30,000 in Punjab National Bank at Ballabhgrah. I have spent ₹ 5,000 on the marriage of my daughter and a sum of ₹ 5,000 was spent by me on the construction of my pacca house.... 34. The purchaser of the said land Dr. Jaswant Rai Chawala (A.W.6) has also been examined on behalf of the claimants. It is stated in his examination-in-chief that sale money of ₹ 40,000 was paid to the vendor before the Sub-Registrar. In his cross- examination, he said : It is wrong to suggest that only a sum of ₹ 10,000 was paid to Nawal Singh, and the balance was taken back from him. 35. As seen f ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nhera. An entry thereunder shows that on 11.8.60, 5 kanals and 15 marlas of land in Khasra No. 15/17 was sold by Smt. Saidan to Shadi for a sum of ₹ 427.97 according to the order passed by the S.D.O. Palwal. What is argued now is, that the amount of sale consideration mentioned in the extract should form the basis for determination of the market-value of the acquired land and calculations in that regard must be made in accordance with the provisions of Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act. The argument so put-forth on behalf of M/s. Printers House Pvt. Ltd., in our view, cannot be accepted. When the amount to be awarded for land acquired under the Act has to be just market value to be determined on the basis of well recognised principles of valuations, amounts payable under statutory provisions by cultivating tenants for purchase of lands by them from the landlords, can provide no guidance in the matter. Moreover, Shaha-bu-din, though is the vendor, according to entry, nothing relating to the said transaction is suggested in the course of his cross-examination. Hence, this exhibit also can be of no assistance to M/s. Printers House Pvt. Ltd. for determination of market value o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... pe and only a corner point of triangular plot alone facing G.T. Road. We accordingly determine the market value of the triangular plot of 6 kanals 15 marlas of land owned by M/s. Cold Storage Food Products covered by Group (2) at ₹ 2,625 per kanal. 42. Then comes plot of 73 kanals 2 marlas of land of Masjid of village Ranhera and plot of 1 kanal and 19 marlas of land of Mst. Saiyadan, falling under Group (3) above. Though these are two plots of lands, we can consider the market-value of the plot of 73 kanals and 2 marlas of land, for the market-value fixed for it could hold good in respect of an insignificant extent of 1 kanal 19 marlas in the Group. If 73 kanals 2 marlas was to be sold in the market, it could not have fetched the same price as those Group (1) lands as on the date of the publication of the preliminary Notification. The reasons are obvious: (i) That its location lies beyond industrial plots facing Delhi-Mathura Grand Trunk Road covered in Group (1) lands which are proper and suitable for setting up medium scale of Industries. (ii) That it has no access to either G.T. Road or any other road. (iii) That its extent being as l ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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