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Regular First Appeal No. 54 of 1970, decided on 3rd November, 1986.
‑‑‑Ss. 4 & 18‑‑Compensation, assessment of‑‑None of parties producing any mutation or other documentary material touching sale of land lying in area of concerned Chak within five years prior to acquisition of land in dispute‑‑Sales of land incorporated in copies of mutations produced by land owners giving no assistance for determination of market value of land in dispute‑‑Lower Court and Land Acquisition Collector, keeping in view potential of land seemed to have acted rightly in basing their decision on price against which land lying closely had Been acquired a year before‑‑Compensation awarded to land owners, held, was just and proper and needed no alteration.
Chaudhry Aziz Ahmed for Appellants.
Nemo for Respondent No.l.
Khawaja Farooq Ahmad for Respondent No. 2.
Date of hearing: 3rd November, 1986.
This appeal by some land‑owners and the connected Appeal No. 73 of 1969, by the National Silk and Rayon Mills Limited, Lyallpur (now Faisalabad), for which company the land in dispute measuring 13 Acres 3 Kanals 13 Marlas entered in Killas Nos. 3/2, 4 to 7, 8/2, 13/2, 14 to 17, 18/2, 23/2, 24 and 25 of Square No. 21, situate in the area of Chak No. 314/RB, tehsil and district Lyallpur (Faisalabad), was compulsorily acquired, disputing the amount of compensation awarded to the land‑owners, by the Land Acquisition Collector and affirmed by the learned Court of the Administrative Civil Judge, Lyallpur (Faisalabad), are proposed to be disposed of by this judgment. The Provincial Government issued notification of its intention to acquire the land in question under section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, on the 1st December, 1954. The Land Acquisition Collector worked out compensation at the rate of Rs.16,245 per Acre. The appellants, being dissatisfied with the award, moved the Collector for referring the matter to the Court, the land‑owners demanding enhancement and the company asking for slashing down of the amount of compensation given by the award. The learned Court, considering the compensation determined by the Collector to be appropriate, declined either to increase or reduce it. The learned Court was influenced by the fact that 142 Kanals 10 Marlas of land of Saleem Ullah and others, which lay in close proximity to the land in dispute, had been acquired a year before at the rate of Rs.13,370 per Acre and taking into account the rise in price it judged the award of compensation at the rate of Rs.16,245 to be in order. Feeling aggrieved by its decision both the parties have approached this Court in appeal.
2. The land is situate just at a distance of three and a half miles from the heart of Lyallpur (Faisalabad) city. It was surrounded by factories already set up before its acquisition. As a matter of fact the National Silk and Rayon Mills Limited required it for extension of its factory. Undoubtedly the area where the land lay was in the process of fast development and the price of the land was ever rising.
3. Unfortunately none of the parties produced any mutation or other documentary material touching sale of the land lying in the area of Chak No. 314/RB within five years prior to the acquisition of the land. The mutations, whose copies, Exhs. P. 39 to P. 60, have been brought on the record by the land‑owners, relate to sales of lands lying in other villages. Moreover, the sales incorporated in the mutations, whose copies are Exhs. P. 39, P. 42 to P. 45, P. 53 to P. 56, took place after acquisition of the land in dispute. Small pieces of land for the purpose of building houses thereon were sold through mutations whose copies are Exhs. P. 40, P. 41, P. 51 and P. 52. In such circumstances the sales of lands incorporated in the mutations whose copies have been produced by the land‑owners hardly give proper assistance for determination of the market value of the land in dispute lying in Chak No. 314/RB. The prices of sales of different lands lying in other Chaks banked upon by the National Silk and Rayon Mills Limited likewise do not furnish good guide for ascertaining the value of the land in dispute. Therefore, keeping in view the potential of the land the learned Court and the Land Acquisition Collector seem to have acted rightly in basing their decision on the price against which the land lying close by had been acquired a year before. The compensation awarded to the land‑owners is just and proper and needs no alteration. The compensation given to the land‑owners in respect of trees and Deras is by no means on the high side and demands no interference.
4. In the result the judgment of the learned trial Court is maintained and the appeals are dismissed leaving the parties to bear their own costs.
S. Q. ‑‑‑‑‑ Appeal dismissed.
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