Balwant Singh vs State of Haryana

V.K. Bali, J. (Oral)

The claimant in petition under section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act being aggrieved of the Award dated 30.5.1981 rendered by the Additional District Judge, Rohtak vide which his reference was dismissed has come up in this appeal. Obviously, the only question is with regard to assessment of market value of the land on the date when notification under section 4 was issued.

Brief facts of the case reveal that notification under sections 4 and 6 were issued simultaneously on 15.8.1978 and the Land Acquisition Collector vide his Award dated 30.5.1981 assessed compensation at the rate of Rs. 8,000/ per acre for Nehri, Rs. 6,000/ for Barani, Rs. 3,000/ for Banjar Kadeem, Gair mumkin abadi and rasta. As mentioned above, on a petition preferred by appellant under section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, no further enhancement has been made. The learned Additional District Judge, Rohtak dealt issue No. 1 with regard to assessment of market value of the acquired land in para No. 6 of the award which reads as follows :

"The petitioner in support of his claim for enhancement of the compensation has relied upon one sale instance covered by copy of sale deed Ex.P1. The sale was effected on 13.6.1972. A piece of land comprised in Killa No. 109/16 min measuring 12 Marlas was sold for Rs. 1815/. The price as per chart prepared by the Patwari Ex.P6 works as Rs. 24,200/ per acre or Rs. 5/ per sq. yard. This land covered by sale deed Ex.R1 is situated at a distance of 200 yards from the acquired land as wrenched out in the cross examination of Shamsher Singh Patwari RW1. Besides this, petitioner Balwant Singh stepped in the witness box and has testified that the rate of acquired land at the time of acquisition, was Rs. 38/ to Rs. 40/ per sq. yard because there was great scarcity of abadi land and that acquired land fell within the abadi of village Dhamar. Darya Singh PW2 had purchased the land covered by copy of sale deed Ex.P1 and he has also given the market value of the acquired land at Rs. 40/ per sq. yard. Hukam Singh PW 3 has stated that the acquired land adjoins the abadi deh of the village and he has given the rate of acquired land at Rs. 40/ per sq. yd."

A perusal of para 6 of the judgment reproduced above would depict the evidence that was led by the claimantappellant for assessment of compensation. It could not be disputed during the course of arguments that the sale deeds relied upon by the claimants did not provide a proper guidance for the assessment of market value in this case. The only contention raised by the learned counsel for the appellant is that the land was located within the Lal Lakir which necessarily means within the abide deh and therefore, the market value ought to have been assessed as payable for the Chahi land and in as much as the Land Acquisition Collector has assessed the market value of the Nehri land at Rs. 8,000/ per acre but the land belonging to the appellant has been assessed at Rs. 3,000/ per acre. The learned counsel for the appellant relied upon Balwant Singh v. State of Haryana, 1990 PLJ 69 : 1991(2) RRR 215 (P&H);

I have heard the learned counsel for the appellant and gone through the records of the case. I do not find any merit in the only contention raised by the Counsel noted above. It would be seen from the evidence that was led by the appellantclaimant that whereas petitioner Balwant Singh stated that the acquired land fell within the abadi of village Dhamar, witness examined on his behalf Hukam Singh PW3 stated that the same adjoins the abadi deh of the village. No positive evidence was led in this case to prove that the land subject matter of acquisition was situated within the Abadi. No site plan depicting the land of the petitioner was also placed on the record from where it could be made out that the land was within Abadi.

There is no merit in this appeal and the same is dismissed leaving the parties to bear their own costs.