JUDGMENT
N.C. Jain, J.
1. This judgment of mine would dispose of R.F.A. Nos. 1680, 1687, 1768 to 1777 of 1991, 3995 of 1992 filed by the landowners-claimants for enhancement of the amount of compensation and R.S.A. Nos. 1790 to 1802 of 1991 filed by the State of Punjab for reduction of the amount of compensation granted by the Additional District Judge as they arise out of a common award dated 29.4.1991.
2. Land measuring 29.68 acres (141 Bighas 19 Biswas) situated in village Bathinda was acquired for a public purpose, namely, for setting up of N.F.L. Colony by National Fertilizers Limited, Bathinda, Tehsil and District Bathinda, by the State of Punjab, vide Notification dated 24.1.1983, issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act’). The Collector by his award dated 19.3.1986 classified the land in three categories and assessed the market value of the acquired land at the following rates:-
Nehri @ Rs. 57,800/- per acre, Barani @ Rs. 24,150/- per acre, Gair Mumkin @ Rs. 24,150/- per acre. The landowners feeling dissatisfied with the award of the Collector, sought references under Section 18 of the Act. The Additional District Judge on reference has determined the market value of the acquired land at the rate of Rs. 32.50 per sq. yard. 3. In order to decide whether the view of the Additional District Judge is correct and whether the landowners are entitled to more or less compensation than the one which has been granted by the Additional District Judge, it is necessary to have a look at the evidence produced on the record of the case.
4. AW-1 Roshan Lal, Patwari, Halqa Bathinda Patti Jhuti who prepared the Aks Lattha Exh. Al, stated that he has shown the land in question in Aks Lattha Exh. Al in light Mehroon Colour which is encircled as Bl, B2, B3 and B4. He further stated that the land was acquired for the expansion of the National Fertilizers Limited, Bathinda, for its township. He further stated that the acquired land was situated on National Highway leading from Bathinda to Ferozepur via Goniana and was within municipal limits for the last about 10 years (statement recorded on 15.11.1990). The land, according to him, was surrounded by many industrial concerns, residential houses, N.F.L. Colony, Sucha Singh Colony, Amar Singh Colony, Kheta Singh Colony, Mandir Colony etc. The colony of Punjab State Electricity Board was in existence before the notification. He further stated that the habitation of Bathinda town is expanding towards the land in question as all three sides have already been covered. According to him, Bathinda town developed rapidly after the thermal plant came into being. Bathinda was having a population of five lacs. On the Eastern side of Bathinda town there is Military cantonment which is the biggest cantonment in Asia, towards the West of the land there is a Railway Station which is biggest station in India. He further stated that distance between the acquired land and the Railway Station was about 4 K.Ms., and that the over bridge near Khalsa School was one K.M. away from the Railway Station. The existence of Bawa Biscuits Factory and other Industrial concerns towards the North of the acquired land was also deposed to by this witness. On the Southern side of the acquired land there existed I.T.I., Milk Plant, Punjab Spinning and Weaving Mills, Engineering College etc. Village Gill Patti is about 4 K.Ms. from the acquired land. N.F.L. Colony, according the him was fully developed before the acquisition of the land in question. In the cross-examination this witness could not say whether Municipal Limits covered the acquired land at the time of acquisition. He was constrained to admit that the colonies as stated in the examination-in-chief except N.F.L. Colony falls within the area of 1 to 1-1/2 K.Ms. from the acquired land. While specifying the exact distance of the colonies so mentioned in the examination-in-chief he stated that Amar Singh Colony was at a distance of 1-1/2 K.Ms. Sucha Singh Colony at a distance of 1 K.M., Kheta Singh Colony at 2 K.Ms. and Mandir Colony at a distance of 1/2 K.M. The aforementioned colonies were situated in fields which were construed prior to the acquisition of the land according to him. He could not give the number of houses of the aforementioned colonies. He also could not specify the number of persons residing in the colonies. He was constrained to admit that the acquired land was agricultural in nature at the time of acquisition. He was specifically asked about the price of the acquired land, but he could not give the price of the land at the time of notification. He further admitted that the acquired land was low lying area. The distance between the acquired land and bus-stand was given as 4 K.Ms. He further stated that some of the land opposite to lake near the Thermal Colony was water logged. Some of the land adjoining the main road is water logged. About 10 acres of land was purchased by the employees of the N.F.L. for building their residential houses on cooperative basis, but he could not tell the date of purchase. This witness further stated that the employees have got the earth work done on their plots of 10 acres. On the date of giving the statement no house has been constructed, but there were houses adjoining the Colony. He further stated that from Thermal Colony upto the acquired land no industrial unit has come except Kartar Singh Colony as shown in the map. No other residential building has come up from the acquired land upto Thermal Colony. Kartar Singh Colony, according to him is comprised of 4-5 houses which were owned by some brothers and their menial servants. The land adjacent to Kartar Singh Colony was also owned by these brothers who owned Kartar Singh Colony. They had sold 15 Killas of land for the construction of a Private Colony, but rate was not known. One gas factory in front of the gate of the Thermal Plant was constructed after 1984 according to this witness, but he could not tell about the price of the land. He further stated that the distance of factories on the Malout road and Sibian road are within a radius of 6 K.Ms. from Bus Stand, Bathinda. He further stated that some area adjacent to lake is water logged. The distance between the acquired land from Thermal Plant is about 1-1/2 Kms. by road. He further stated that the National Highway from Bathinda to Ferozepur has been raised by 6 to 7 feet about four years ago and the acquired land abutted on this Highway.
AW-2 Partap Singh is the Sarpanch of Village Gill Patti. He also deposed about the potentialities of the acquired land. In particular he has deposed about the existence of Thermal Plant which started functioning in 1972-73, air conditioned hotels, like Punj Rattan and Cinemas near the acquired land. He further deposed that the rate of the acquired land at the time of acquisition was Rs. 450/-per sq. yards. In cross-examination he was constrained to admit that Cinemas were situated at a distance of about 2/2-1/2 Kms. from the acquired land. The existence of a canal in between the acquired land and Bathinda town has also been admitted. He has further admitted that bus stand was at a distance of about 4 Kms. from the acquired land. He admitted that he neither purchased nor sold any land at the rate of Rs. 450/- per sq. yards.
AW-3 Sukhwinder Singh, Patwari, Halqa Sibian stated that village Gill Patti was in his Halqa and that he prepared AKs Lattha Ex. A2. According to him the boundary of village Gill Patti adjoins the boundary of Bathinda. In cross-examination he could not tell the location of the acquired land in the site plan. He could not tell the date when the factories, shown by him in the plan, came into existence. He admitted that he prepared the site plan by sitting in Patwar Khana according to record.
AW-4 Kuldip Kumar, Building Clerk, M.C. Bathinda, deposed that limits of Bathinda municipality were extended in the year 1977 vide notification Exh. A-3. His statement was not referred for any other purposes by the learned counsel for the parties.
AW-5 Sohan Lal, Draftsman was also referred to in order to contend that the acquired land was within Municipal Limits since 1977. His statement regarding potentialities of the land is on the same lines with the statements of the other witnesses.
AW-6 Natha Singh is the Lamberdar of village Bathinda. He stated that the price of the acquired land in the year 1982 was Rs. 500 to 600/- per sq. yard and that habitation of Bathinda city was expanding towards the acquired land. He has also deposed about the potentialities of the acquired land at the aforementioned rate. In cross-examination he could not tell about any transaction having taken place at the aforesaid rate. He could not give the rate at which the land was purchased by the N.F.L. employees Housing Co-operative Society, near the acquired land.
AW-7 Mahant Sarupa Nand stated that he was Mehant and Mohatmim of Dera Tap, Bathinda, and was living there for the last about 40 years. He deposed about the acquired land in the same manner as deposed by the other witnesses. He stated that out of the acquired land 70 to 80% of the land was owned by him i.e. Dera Tap. According to him, Thermal Plant started generating power in full swing in the year 1973-74. Thousands of acres of land was acquired for N.F.L. Thermal Plant and its colony is towards the acquired land at Bathinda. The lands of village Gill Patti and Sibian were also acquired according to him, alongwith the land of Bathinda for N.F.L. The land in question was situated on National Highway which is about 100 ft. wide metalled road of Bathinda city. The acquired land came in the municipal limits of Bathinda before the acquisition. The octroi post of municipal committee was constructed as a distance of 1 Km. ahead of the acquired land towards village Gill Patti according to this witness. The existence of petrol pump according to this witness was also near the acquired land. He has further stated about the development regarding the Industries, Shopping Centres and residential colonies across village Gill Patti towards Sibian side which was ahead of the acquired land. He further stated that there were many other colonies around the acquired land like Modern Colony of Thermal Plant. Sucha Singh Numberdar Colony, Kheta Singh Colony, Mandir Colony. He has deposed that compensation for acquisition of land of different villages for Bathinda Cantonment was granted at the rate of Rs. 17/- per sq. yard. He further stated that after the acquisition of land in Bathinda less land was left in Bathinda. Compensation for the acquisition of land for over bridge & widening of Bhagu road had been fixed at the rate of Rs. 450/- per sq. yard. He has further stated that compensation at the rate of Rs. 176/- per sq. yard was fixed for the acquisition of land for Municipal Park. The acquired land was stated to be better than the land acquired for railway over bridge and Municipal Park in his view. Development of Bathinda town, according to this witness, had already crossed village Patti. In cross-examination he was constrained to admit that Sucha Singh Colony, Amarpura Colony, Mandir Colony, were not approved Colonies. He further admitted that there was a canal between the acquired land and Bathinda town and that the acquired land was situated at a distance of half kilometer from the said canal. He has further admitted that hotels cinemas and other commercial establishments were situated towards Bathinda town from the said colony. The distance of the acquired land and bus stand Bathinda has also been admitted about 4-5 K.Ms. He has further admitted that the land acquired for Railway over bridge, Municipal Park, Bhagu road etc. was towards city from the canal and that there was scattered residential accommodation around the aforesaid railway over bridge. He could not tell about any sale transaction having taken place at the rate of about Rs. 450/- per sq. yard near the acquired land at the time of acquisition. He has admitted that the acquired land was agricultural at the time of notification out of which some was Barani and some was Nehri.
RW-1 Basant Singh, Patwari, produced Aks Shajra Exh. Rl showing the acquired land in red. He produced sale deed Exh. R2 to R11. He admitted in cross-examination that more than 600 acres of land was acquired prior to the acquisition of the present land. The factum of acquired land being within municipal limits before acquisition has also been admitted. It was also admitted that the lands belonging to village Sibian and Gill Patti were also acquired. It was also admitted that the land opposite the acquired land was acquired for the installation of N.F.L. plant upto Sibian road. The land comprising in Khasra No. 448 was stated to be under water logging.
RW-2 Harminder Singh, Assistant Foreman (Civil) deposed that he was working as Civil Engineer in N.F.L. Bathinda and that he prepared the site plan showing the acquired land and the G.N.D.T.P. Colony and distance thereof. He deposed that from the G.N.D.T.P. boundary wall upto the acquired land the area was low lying and water logged. He further stated that the acquired land shown in red colour in the site plan was low lying and to make it worthwhile the ash put thereon was covered with the earth by incurring expenditure by the N.F.L. to the tune of Rs. 5-1/2 lacs. The details of the expenses was shown in Mark-A. He did not dispute in cross-examination about the potentialities of the acquired land regarding which reference has already been made above.
RW-3 B.K. Sharma, Assistant Engineer (Mechanical) an employee of the N.F.L. stated that he was member of the N.F.L. Employees Cooperative Society. He further stated that the Society had purchased 15 acres of land in the year 1980 which is shown in plan Exh. RW2/A. The land according to him, was purchased by the Society at the rate of Rs. 36,000/- per acre. He produced certified copies of sale deeds Exh. RW3/1-4, but he did not produce the original sale deed. He has produced two agreements of sale Exh. AX and AY upon which reliance has been made by the learned Additional District Judge.
5. The Additional District Judge after noticing the potentialities of the acquired land and after taking into consideration two sale agreements and an award has assessed the market value of the acquired land at the rate of Rs. 32.50 per sq. yard. For arriving at the figure of Rs. 32.50 per sq. yard, the Additional District Judge has placed reliance upon two sets of evidence Exh. AX and AY vide which Satish Gupta and Bal Ram Shukla agreed to transfer their plots of 400 sq. yards for a sum of Rs. 17,300/- and 17,000/- respectively bringing the average sale price at Rs. 42.87 per sq. yard. Upon the sale price of Rs. 42.87 per sq. yards, a deduction of 20% was made in view of the fact that some land has to be left for streets and other common purposes. In this manner, the price was brought down from 42.87 per sq. yard to 34.30 per sq. yard and thereafter a price rise was given at the rate of 12% from 4.11.1982 to 24.1.1983 bringing out the average sale price at the rate of Rs. 35.25 per sq. yard. The other set of evidence which has been relied upon is an award given by this Court in case of Sadhu Singh v. Union of India and Ors., 1990(2) C.L.J. (C, Cr.& Rev.) 84, wherein compensation at the rate of Rs. 17/- per sq. yard was granted to the landowners whose land was acquired within the revenue estate of Bathinda for the extension of Military Cantonment vide notification dated 29.10.1976. After giving the necessary increase of 12% price rise in view of the time gap between the dates of two notifications i.e. in the case of Sadhu Singh v. Union of India and the date of notification in the present case, the market value of the acquired land was determined at Rs. 29.75 per sq. yard. After taking out the average of the market value arrived at by the aforesaid two sets of evidence, the average price at the rate of Rs. 32.50 per sq. yard was calculated.
6. Before noticing the arguments of the learned counsel for the parties, it is necessary to observe at the very outset that neither the learned counsel for the appellant-landowners nor the learned counsel for the State and the National Fertilizer Limited placed reliance upon two agreements of sale Exhs. AX and AY which were wrongly described to be sale deeds by the Additional District Judge. The learned counsel for the parties agreed that the perusal of the aforementioned two agreements of sale Exhs. AX and AY does not give any indication about the dates of their execution. The agreements of sale Exhs. AX and AY are, therefore, excluded from consideration leaving this Court to decide as to what should be the amount of compensation in the light of other evidence produced on the record of the case.
7. Shri R.S. Mittal, Senior Advocate, learned counsel for the landowners has vehemently argued that in view of the high potentialities of the acquired land this Court should rely upon the award No. 4 dated 26.4.1983 given by the land Acquisition Court, Bathinda, the copy which has been produced as Exh. A-13 and the copy of the award given by this Court in R.F.A. No. 1145 of 1987, Bhag Singh v. State of Punjab, copy of which has been produced as Exh. A-14 allowing the compensation at the rate of Rs. 450/- per sq. yard. In the alternative Mr. Mittal has argued that his clients are, in any case, entitled to the grant of compensation in accordance with the award given by this Court vide Exh. A-15 at the rate of Rs. 176/- per sq. yard. The copies of the sale deeds Exhs. A-16 and A-17 evidencing sales at the rate of Rs. 180/- per sq. yard, were also referred to during the course of arguments.
8. Learned Counsel for the States and Shri R.K. Battas, Senior Advocate, learned counsel for the N.F.L., on the other hand, argued with equal vehemence that the Additional District Judge should have granted less compensation in view of the evidence led by the respondents. It has further been argued that the sale deeds and the awards heavily relied upon by the learned counsel for the claimants-landowners are irrelevant for evaluating the acquired land. Mr. Battas argued that although the potentialities of the acquired land were high in the sense that the disputed land was situated within the municipal limits, but nonetheless the claim of the appellants was too tall when they contended that the acquired land was better located than the land which was subject matter of evaluation in the previous awards. After referring to certain sale deeds produced by the N.F.L. and the State, he has prayed that the compensation awarded is on the higher side and that the same deserves to be reduced.
9. I have given deep thought to the arguments of the learned counsel for the parties. The entire record has been gone through by me carefully. Having gone through the record and having given thoughtful consideration to the respective arguments of the learned counsel for the parties, I am of the firm view that no case for enhancement or reduction is made out. Exh. A-13 has been discarded by the Additional District Judge on the ground and in my opinion rightly that the land in the aforementioned award was acquired for the construction of 100 feet vide Sector road from power house to Bhagu Road which is far away from the acquired land. This Court on perusal of Exh. A-13 has further found that a small piece of 1 Bigha 16 Biswas only was acquired vide notification giving rise to the award Exh. A-13, and therefore, even on this point Exh. A-13 is irrelevant. On the same reasoning Exh. A-14 is also irrelevant as the land which was evaluated vide Exh. A-14, was also acquired for the construction of over bridge in the town of Bathinda which is also far away and this fact has come in oral evidence. It has further been found by the learned Additional District Judge that the land in the aforementioned two acquisitions was situated in a large density populated area. Exh. A-15 an award given by this Court in Karam Singh and Anr. v. State of Punjab and Ors., RFA No. 906 of 1988, decided on 8.11.1989, can also be of no help to the claimants as the land therein was acquired on 30.8.1983, whereas in the present case the notification was issued on 24.1.1983. The land was acquired in Karam Singh’s case (Supra) i.e. Exh. A-15, for municipal park which is situated beyond Sirhind canal and at a great distance, whereas the acquired land in the instant case is situated towards village Goniana side. Exh. A-16 and A-17, the two sale deeds are irrelevant and are not comparable vis-a-vis the acquired land inasmuch as Khasra No. 1826 and 1831 which are shown in plan Exh. A-l were sold by virtue of aforementioned sale deeds. These two pieces of land as the perusal of the plan Exh. A-l shows that are situated towards Bathinda side from Sirhind Canal. The location of the two pieces of land apart, these two sale deeds covering the sale of 166.66 sq. yards and 118 sq. yards do not admit of any comparison vis-a-vis the acquired land which runs into 29.68 acres (141 Bighas 19 Biswas). In view thereof, these two sale instances are also ruled out consideration.
10. Having rejected the sale instances and the awards and in view of the discussion above, the question which arises is as to what should be the market value of the acquired land. The learned Additional District Judge as has been seen above, has taken the average of two transactions of sale Exhs. AX and AY and another award given by this Court in R.F.A. No. 1207 of 1984, Sadhu Singh v. Union of India and Ors., decided on 14.3.90 reported as 1990(2) C.L.J. (C.Cr. & Rev.), 84. The land in Sadhu Singh’s case (Supra) was acquired for the extension of Military Cantonment in Bathinda. Although the exact location of the land is not given in Sadhu Singh’s case (Supra), yet the same can be made the sale basis for determining the market value of the acquired land in the instant case as the land acquired in Sadhu Singh’s case (Supra) was within municipal limits. If the award in Sadhu Singh’s case (Supra) is taken into consideration which this Court is inclined to do so, the market value of the acquired land after giving price rise at the rate of 12% per year between the date of two notifications i.e. in Sadhu Singh’s case and in the present cases, which are 29.10.1976 and 24.1.1983 respectively, the market value come to Rs. 29.75p per sq. yard. The difference of Rs. 2.75 can be easily justified in view of the high potentialities of the acquired land to which reference has been made above. Moreover, there is hardly any land available in Bathinda as has come in evidence and, therefore, this Court by applying its guess work can give rise to Rs. 2.75 per sq. yard for maintaining the award of the learned Additional District Judge.
11. Before parting with the judgment it is necessary to deal with the arguments of Shri R.K. Battas, that this Court should reduce the amount of compensation because Exhs. AX and AY two agreement of sale have to be ruled out of consideration. Even after excluding Exhs. AX and AY, I do not think that any reduction should be made in the amount of compensation. The sale deeds Exhs. R-2 to R-ll produced by the N.F.L. and the State do not warrant any reduction in the market value of the acquired land because it has been admitted by Basant Singh Patwari, who has stepped in the witness box as RW-1 that the aforementioned sale deeds pertain to the land situated at distant places from the acquired land. The purchase of land by the N.F.L. Cooperative Society at the rate of Rs. 36,000/- per acre is also irrelevant because the aforementioned sale deeds took place in May, 1980, whereas the acquisition in, the present case has taken place in 1983 and by that time there was a lot of development. Equally untenable is the argument of Mr. R.K. Battas that this Court should reduce the amount of compensation as the acquired land does not have high potentialities. May be, the acquired land is not comparable with the land forming part of sale deeds and awards as has been discussed in the earlier part of the judgment, it cannot be successfully maintained by the learned counsel for the N.F.L. that the potentialities of the acquired land were not high. After applying my all guess work, I am of the view that grant of compensation at the rate of Rs. 32.50 per sq. yard is just and reasonable.
12. For the reasons recorded above, the appeals filed by the landowners-claimants and the State of Punjab are devoid of any merit and consequently they are ordered to be dismissed with no order as to costs.