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Regular First Appeal No. 216 of 1980, decided on 25th November, 1986.

‑‑‑Ss. 4; 18 & 54‑‑Acquisition of land‑‑Award of compensation, determination of‑‑Appeal against‑‑Trial Court, on reference without adverting to and discussing evidence produced by aggrieved party for enhancement of amount of compensation of acquired land, simply depending on decision of Land Acquisition Collector, rejected reference‑ Decision of Collector was not based on sound reason, but on mere conjectures‑‑In view of situation of acquired agricultural land and its good potential for building site, High Court in appellate jurisdiction basing its findings on recent average sale price of such kind of adjoining land and average price estimated by impartial competent authority, accepted appeal of land owners, and enhanced amount of compensation payable to them

Ch. Mushtaq Ahmad Khan for Appellants.

Sh. Abdul Majid for Respondent No. 1.

Nemo for Respondent No. 2.

Date of hearing: 25th November, 1986.

This appeal by two of the land‑owners, whose land had been acquired by the Provincial Government of the Punjab for construction of western side of Gujranwala bypass road, disputing the correctness of the amount of compensation determined by the Land Acquisition Collector while announcing his award as also by the learned Senior Civil Judge, Gujranwala, while answering reference, arises out of the following circumstances. The Government acquired 196 Kanals 10 Marlas of land lying in Khiali Shahpur estate, tehsil and district Gujranwala, for public purpose, namely, construction of highway. Notification indicating Government's intention to acquire the land under section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, was published in the official Gazette on the 19th December, 1975. In view of urgency the possession of the land was taken over by the Government before the announcement of the award. The land‑owners laid claim to compensation for their lands at the rate of Rs.1,50,000 to Rs.2,00,000 per Acre before the Land Acquisition Collector. The Collector of Gujranwala district supplied to the Land Acquisition Collector the following estimate of prices of various kinds of land of Khiali Shahpur village,‑‑

Chahi . @ Rs.61,951.34 per Acre

Nehri . @ Rs.57,472.00 per Acre

Banjar Qadim @ Rs.57,795.20 per Acre

Mixed @ Rs.61,950.10 per Acre

The Land Acquisition Collector classified the acquired land into two categories. For A class land he awarded compensation at the rate of Rs.30,000 per Acre and for B class land at the rate of Rs.20,000 per Acre. The appellants' land measuring 25 Kanals fell into B class and fetched compensation at the rate of Rs.20,000 per Acre.

2. Having not accepted the award the appellants made application to the Collector requiring the matter, to be referred to the Court for determination of the question of enhancement of compensation that they claimed. They maintained that the value of the land was in no case less than Rs.1,00,000 per Acre. The Government opposed their move and considering the compensation awarded by the Land Acquisition Collector to tie sufficient sought for the rejection of their application.

3. The learned trial Court, without adverting to and discussing the evidence produced by the appellants, simply reproduced the portion of the Land Acquisition Collector's award dealing with the subject of compensation and observing that the Collector had advanced very sound reasons for determination of the rate of compensation rejected the reference.

4. The Land Acquisition Collector gave no reasons in his award as to how he classified the land in dispute as B class and further as to how he proceeded to assess the value of the land or compensation for acquisition thereof at the rate of Rs.20,000 per Acre. His decision is no better than a mere conjecture.‑. Consequently his finding on this point is of no consequence and can hardly be banked upon for ascertaining the true market value of the land obtaining at the time of its acquisition and the amount of compensation payable to the appellants

5. The land in dispute lies between the Grand Trunk Road an& Sheikhupura Road and is at a distance of two and a half miles from A Gujranwala city. It is well‑situate as it is close by Sheikhupura Rdad and there are factories and Abadis near and around it. It had good potential for building site.

6. Admittedly the land in dispute is Nal Chahi. The appellants brought on the record the statement (Exh. P.1) of average price of the land situate in the area of village Khiali Shahpur worked out on the basis of prices quoted in the sale mutations which were sanctioned from the 13th November, 1974, till the 14th November, 1975. The average price per Acre comes to Rs.65,484.80. Sales of different kinds of lands, Nal Chahi, Ghair Mumkin and Banjar Qadim are incorporated in this document. The average price per Acre of Nal Chahi land, taking into account the sales from the 13th November, 1974, till the date of publication of notification under section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, is Rs.65,484.80 per Acre. This figure is in excess of the estimate of average price given by the Deputy Commissioner and Collector of Gujranwala just before the start of the acquisition proceedings. The Collector reckoned the average price per Acre of Chahi land at Rs.61,951.34. The Collector, who is the Government's own Chief Executive Officer of the District, was not biased in favour of the appellants. His estimate of average price of Chahi land rested on the prices of Chahi land whose sales had taken place during the preceding years. It has not been shown to be in any way defective or exaggerated. There is no reason why it should not be accepted to ascertain the market value of the land in dispute. Therefore, looking to the situation of the land and its potential, etc., it would be legitimate to fix its market value at Rs.62,000 per Acre. The appeal is accordingly accepted and the amount of compensation payable to the appellants is enhanced from Rs.20,000 per Acre to Rs.62,000 per Acre plus fifteen per cent thereof in consideration of compulsory nature of acquisition. The appellants will be paid, as required by section 28 of the Land Acquisition Act, compound interest at the rate of Rs.8 per cent per annum from the date of taking possession of the land to the date of payment into Court of the amount of compensation in excess of the one awarded by the Collector. The appellants will get costs throughout.

H. B. T. Appeal accepted.

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