Holding

Compensation is not payable for nursery plants that can be removed and sold like potted plants, and the mother trees are correctly valued as wood; therefore, the enhancement of compensation for the trees is unwarranted.

Summary

The land of the appellants was acquired under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 for a residential development. The appellants operated a plant nursery and claimed compensation for the nursery plants, potted plants, and mother trees. The Land Acquisition Collector allowed removal of nursery and potted plants and denied compensation for them, while valuing the mother trees as wood and awarding a certain amount; the District Judge enhanced compensation and doubled the value of trees, which the High Court set aside. The appellants appealed, arguing that the nursery plants would die if removed and that the trees should be valued at market price with enhanced compensation. The Supreme Court held that the nursery plants could be removed and sold, so no compensation was due, and that the trees were correctly valued as wood; consequently, the High Court’s findings were affirmed and the appeals dismissed.

Issues considered

Whether compensation is payable for nursery plants existing on the land at the time of acquisition under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894
Whether the valuation of mother trees as wood is appropriate or should be based on market price, and whether an enhancement of compensation for the trees is justified
Whether the land should be valued as agricultural land or as urban land with potentialities for the purpose of compensation

Legislation cited

Land Acquisition Act, 1894s. 10, s. 23, s. 4, s. 9

Subjects

Land acquisitionCompensationNursery plantsMother treesValuationUrban landSection 4Section 23Supreme Court

Judgment

JOGINDER SINGH SAINI ETC. ETC.
v. A
STATE OF HARYANA & ANR .
.\..
FEBRUARY 16, 1990

[B.C. RAY AND K. RAMASWAMY, JJ.] B

__ ) Land Acquisition Act, 1894: S. 23-Nursery plants existing on
land at time of acquisition-Whether entitled to compensation-Valua-
lion of mother trees as wood-Validity of

· The appellants' land was acquired under the Land Acquisition
Act on March 24, 1971 for planned development as residential area. c
They were then running a plant nursery on the said land. A large
number of potted plants, mother plants and trees also existed there.
They demanded compensation for the land at the rate of Rs.35 per sq.
yd. They also claimed compensation for nursery plants, potted plants
mother plants and trees. D

The Land Acquisition Collector awarded compensation in respect
of the land at the rate of Rs.900 per Biswa. He held that the mother
plants and trees were irremovable and as such assessed the value
A. thereof at Rs.2,41,576. He also awarded charges for the shifting of
,. potted plants. In respect of the nursery plants he took the view that the E
appellants were not entitled to any compensation as these could be
removed from the land and sold.

a i
The District Judge enhanced the rate of compensation for the
acquired land at the rate of Rs.10 per sq. yd. and also doubled the
compensation for trees and mother plants.

The High Court considering the potentiality of the acquired land
F

fixed its value at the rate of Rs.16 per sq. yd. It took the view that the
court below was in error in doubling the value of the trees as no case
was made out in the evidence recorded and therefore set aside the
enhancement. G
In these appeals by special leave it was contended for the appel-
!ants that the nursery plants if taken out of the land would die after
i two-three days and the appellants had got no other land where they
could plant them and keep them alive. It was further contended that
the co"!pensation with regard to mother trees had been awarded with- H

417
418 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1990] 1 S.C.R.

A out reference to their market price ana that the High Court had
arbitrarily rejected the enhancement in the said compensation granted
by the District Court.

Dismissing the appeals, the Court,

B HELD: I. The flndillll ofthe Land Acquisition Collector that the
nursery plants could be taken out of the land and sold to the customers
like potted plants and as such no compensation could be awarded was
quite in accordance with law. Sufficient time had been granted by the
State by permitting the appellants to remove these plants from the
acquired land. Their claim was, therefore, rightly rejected by the High
Court. [422G-H, D-E]
c
2. The land acquired though agricultutal land was taken for
assessment of Its market value @ Rs.16 p~r sq, yd. nqt as agricultural
land but as land with hillh potentlAlltles, I.e. u . urban land. fhe appel-
lants did not at all dispute this value. 011 tbe other band they withdrew
o the entire compebS8tion award for tlie value of these lands. ln these
circumstances, it could not be said that the value of mother trees has
been wrongly assessed as wood. Tbe appellants were, therefore, not
entitled to enhancement Ill the Talue of tteu. [4J2F-G J

CIVIL APPELLATE JURlSDICI'ION: Civil Appeal Nos. 1274 ~.
E to 1278 of 1984.

From the Judgment and Order dated 27.S,81 of the Punjab and
Haryana High Court in R.F .A. Nos. 688 to 692 of 1979.
--
Rajinder Sachar and K.C. Dua for the Appellants.
F
S.P. Goel, Rana Ranjit Singh and Mahabir Singh for the
Respondents.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

G RAY, J. These appeals on special leave are directed against the
judgment and order dated May 27, 1981 passed in R.F.A. Nos. 688 to
692 of 1979 and 1112 of 1979 by the High Courtof Punjab and,Haryana
at Chandigarh. The short question raised in these appeals is whether r
the appellants are entitled to any compensation for nursery plants exist·
ing on the land at the time of acquisition as·-well ·as at the- time of
H notification published under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act,
JOGINDER v. STATE OF HARYANA (RAY, J.I 419

1894. Secondly, whether the valuation made in respect of the mo-ther A
plants is low and the same needs to be increased in accordance with the
report of the Horticulture Expert.

The facts of these appeals in short, are as follows.

A notification under section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 B
was published on March 24, 1971 for acquisition of the lands in ques-
tion in village Faridabad, Hadbust No. 123, Tehsil Ballabgarh, District
Gurgaon for a public purpose viz, for planned development of residen-
tial sector No. 19 by the Haryana Government. Thereafter, a declara-
tion under Section o of the said Act was published vide Notification
No. LAC-71/NTLA/3]6 dated January 18, 1972 in Haryana Govern-
ment Extraordfoary Gazette. The Government declared that the C
Government was satisfied that the said land was needed at public
expenses for a public purpose namely for the plan_ned development in
the area of this village Faridabad. Thereafter a notice under Section 9
and 10 was issued calling upon the owners and other interested persons
to file their claims in respect of the interest in the land and also other D
particulars as regards their claims for compensation for such interest.
The owners of the land and other interested persons filed their claims
demapding compensation for the land@ Rs.35 per sq. yd. and also
claimed compensation for the nursery plants and potted plants in the
land acquired. The Land Acquisition Collector awarded compensation
i.n respect of the land acquired@Rs.900 per Biswa. The Land Acquisi- E
tion Collector held that the mother plants and trees were irremovable
and as such he assessed the value thereof at Rs.2,41,576. He also
awarded the shifting..charges for the shifting of potted plants amount-
ing to Rs.1,773.20 paise together with compulsory charges @ 15% of
the amount _awarded. This award was made by the Land.Acquisition
Collector on February 22, 1975. ·The possession of the acquired land F
was taken by the Government. The Land Acquisition Collector also
granted six months' time or any such further period as extended by the
Government to enable the appellants to remove the nursery plants as
well as the potted plants from the acquired land. The Collector further
stated in the award that the nursery plants can be removed from the
land and the same be sold by the owners to the customers. So no G
compensation was awar?ed in respect of these plants as well as in -
respect of the potted plants.

The appellants filed five claim petitions being Petition Nos. 191/
85 to 195/85 of 1973/78 in the Court of the Additional District Judge,
Gurgaon. The 2nd Additional District Judge, Gurgaon after hearing H
420 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1990] 1 S.C.R.

the parties and also considering the evidences enhanced the rate of
A
compensation of the acquired land© Rs.10 per sq. yd. It has also been
held that the appellants will be entitled to double the compensation for
trees and plants as given by the Land Acquisition Collector. He also
ordered that the appellants ghall be entitled to solatium at the rate of
15% on the enhanced amount of compensation on these two items. In
B all other respects the impugned order made by the Land Acquisition
Collector was upheld. He further ordered that the appellants will be
entitled to recover interest@ 6% from the date of compensation to the
date of realization of the enhanced amount to be paid to them and the
appellants shall also be entitled ro recover the proportionate costs of
the petitions from the Government.
c •
The appellants filed R.F.A. Nos. 688 to 692 of 1979 in the High
Court of Pun jab and Haryana. The High Court fixed the value of the
acquired land considering the potentiality of the land@ Rs.16 per sq.
yd. The total area of the land acquired in these appeals being 11.38
acres, at the rate of Rs.16 per sq. yd. the value of the land acquired
D comes to Rs.8.8 lakhs. The Land Acquisition Collector awarded a sum
of Rs.2,41,576 for the trees, which value had been doubled by the
Court below. The High Court held that no case was made out for
doubling the value of the trees in the evidence recorded before
remand. It has been further observed by the High Court that the
appellants' own case was that most of their income was from potted
~..
E plants, flowers and nursery plants, the potted plants gave the max-
imum income, as was shown by the vouchers produced by the appel-
lants on record. The potted plants had been taken away by the appel-
lants after acquisition. Similar was the position of nursery plants. The
High Court, therefore, held that the value awarded by the Land
Acquisition Collector would be for the trees and since no justification
F was made, the Court below was in error in doubling the value of the
trees. The High Court, therefore, valued the acquired land at the
enhanced rate of Rs.16 per sq. yd., for the trees the compensation
awarded by the Land Acquisition Collector was directed to be paid to
the appellants and the enhancement awarded in respect of trees by the
Court below was set aside. It was further ordered that the appellants
G would be entitled to solatium at the rate of 15 per cent and interest at
the rate of 6% per annum from the date of taking of possession till
payment thereof. The appeals were thus disposed of.

Against this judgment and decree passed in R.F.A. Nos. 688 to
692 of 1979, the appellants filed five Special Leave Petitions belore
H this Court. On February 27, 1984 this Court granted Special Leave
JOGINDER v. STATE OF HARYANA [RAY, J.I 421

confined only to the compensation for mother plants and nursery
plants.
A

Mr. Rajinder Sachar, learned counsel appearing on behalf of
the appellants has made two-fold submissions before this CourL His
first submission is that the Land Acquisition Collector as well as the
Courts below were wrong in not granting any compensation for the B
nursery plants. Nursery plants were grown in the nursery on the
i acquired land for the purpose of rearing them for a certain period and
/ thereafter selling those plants to the customers on taking out the same
from the nursery. There has been an inspection and a list was prepared
of the various varieties of fruits and flower plants existing on the
acquired land at the time of acquisition. He further submitted that the C
value of these various plants has been assessed by Shri Som Dutta
Diwan, Deputy Director, Horticulture/Vegetable, Haryana, Chandi-
garh, who was requested to assess the value of all sorts of trees. Copies
of the assessment made by him had been filed before the Land Acqui-
sition Collector and it will be evident from the said assessment lists
that each variety of trees has been assessed separately with reference D
to the total number of those trees. It has been submitted by Mr.
Sachar in this connection that these nursery plants if taken out of the
land will die after two-three days. The appellants have got no other
land where they could plant these plants and keep them alive. It has,
therefore, been submitted by him that the High Court was wrong in
·- refusing to assess the value of the nursery plants and to award com- E
pensation in respect of the same. Mr. Sachar next submitted that the
compensation awarded with regard to the mother trees by the Land

I
Acquisition Collector has been made arbitrarily without reference to
the market price of these trees. It has been further submitted by refer-
ring to the judgment and order of the 2nd Additional District Judge,
Gurgaon that the 2nd Additional District Judge held that the appel- F
!ants were entitled to double the compensation under the head 'value of
trees and plants' as assessed by the Land Acquisition Collector. The
High Court arbitrarily and wrongly rejected this on the mere ground
that there was no justification for doubling the compensation as
awarded by the Land Acquisition Collector in respect of the mother
trees and plants. It has, therefore, been submitted by Mr. Sachar that G
the amount of compensation awarded by the Land Acquisition Col-
lector in respect of the mother trees should be doubled and the com-
pensation for the nursery plants should also be assessed on the basis ·of
the value of the plants as assessed by the Deputy Director of
Horticulture.
H
422 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1990] 1 S.C.R.

A- Mr. S.P. Goel appearing for the respondent State has submitted
that the land acquired was not treated as an agriculture land in asses-
sing the market value of the same. It has been taken as urban land and ,._
considering its potentialities, the High Court assessed the value of the
land l!Y Rs.16 per sq. yd. In such circumstances, the value of the land
being assessed on considering its potentiality, the question of valuation
B of the mother trees as well as of the nursery plants does not at l!ll arise.
The valuation of the mother trees can at best be assessed at the value
assessed by the Land Acquisition Collector. There is, therefore, no
ground for interference with the amount of compensation awarded by
the Land Acquisition Collector and upheld by the High Court. It has
been next submitted by the learned counsel for the State that the
.•
C nursery plants are planted and grown for the purpose of selling the
same to the customers after taking them out from the land. These
nursery plants are never planted for the purpose of growing them into
big trees or mother plants. The High Court has rightly held that like
the potted plants these nursery plants can easily be removed from the
nursery as the purpose of growing these plants is to sell the same to the
D · customers. 'l'h~se plants can be removed and sufficient time had been
granted by the State by permitting the appellants to remove these
plants from the acquired land. It has, therefore, been submitted that
the High Court has righltly rejected the claim of the appellants for
compensation in respect of the nursery plants.

•E We have considered in depth the arguments advanced by the
learned counsel for both the parties and we have also considered very
carefully the weighty reasonings given by the High Court as well as by
the Land Acquisition Collector. It is obvious that the land acquired
though agriculture land was taken for assessment of its market value
not as agriculture land but as land with high potentialities i.e. as urban
F
land and, therefore, the market value ot these lands has been fixed
after considering its potential value @Rs. 16 per sq. yd. The appellants
did not at all dispute this value and on the other hand they withdrew
the entire compensation award for the value of these lands. In these
circumstances, we find that there is much substance in the submissions
made on behalf of the State that the mother trees should be valued as
G
wood and the value has been rightly assessed as such by the Land
Acquisition Collector in his award and the same has been upheld by
the High Court. Moreover, the findings of the Collector that the
nursery plants can be taken out of the land and sold to the customers
like potted plants and as such no compensation can be awarded is in
H our considered opinion quite in accordance with law. In these cir-
JOGINDER v. STATE OF HARYANA [RAY, J.[ 423

cumstances, we do not find any infirmity or arbitrariness in the find· A
ings arrived at by the High Court and as such there is no merit in th<
contentions made on behalf of the appellants in these appeals. We,
therefore, uphold the findings of the High Court and dismiss the
appeals without any costs.

p,s.s Appeals dismissed. B

tj