Supreme Court of India
SHER SINGH ETC. ETC.versusSTATE OF HARYANA AND ORS. ETC. ETC.
- Citation
- 1991 INSC 1
- Decided
- 8 January 1991
- Disposal
- Dismissed
- Bench
- L M SHARMA
Holding
Enhancement of compensation is not permissible where the evidence on record does not substantiate the claimed higher rate.
Summary
The appellants, land owners whose property was acquired for a residential‑commercial complex in Hissar, Haryana, challenged the compensation awarded by the Land Acquisition Collector and later by the High Court. The Collector had belted the land into three blocks with low per‑square‑yard rates, which the High Court increased for blocks A and B but rejected the claim for a uniform rate of Rs.42 per sq.yd. The appellants argued that a prior transaction of 125 sq.yd. at Rs.42 per sq.yd. indicated a higher market value and that the land’s agricultural nature should not affect compensation. The Supreme Court held that no evidence on record supported the Rs.42 rate, that the prior judgment was not produced as evidence, and that the High Court’s reasoning was sound. Consequently, the Court dismissed the appeals, finding the appellants adequately compensated.
Issues considered
- Whether compensation under Section 25 of the Land Acquisition Act can be enhanced based on evidence not placed on record.
- Whether a uniform compensation rate of Rs.42 per sq.yd. can be awarded in the absence of supporting material.
- Whether a prior judgment not produced as evidence can be relied upon as precedent for enhancing compensation.
Legislation cited
Subjects
Land acquisitionCompensation enhancementSection 25Belting of landUniform compensationEvidence on recordPrecedent
Judgment
SHER SINGH ETC. ETC.
A
V.
STATE OF HARYANA AND ORS. ETC. ETC.
JANUARY 8, 1991
[L.M. SHARMA AND MADAN MOHAN PUNCHHI, JJ.] B
Land Acquisition Act, 1894--Section 25-Compensation-
Enhancement-Not permissible when evidenc;e not brought on record.
The appellants were the claimants:--land owners, whose lands
were acquired for establishing a residential cum-commercial complex.
The Land Acquisition Collector belting the land in three parts awarded
c
compensation for block 'A' at the rate of Rs.4.13 per sq.yd.; for block
'B' at the rate ofRs.2,43 per sq.yd. and for block 'C' at Rs.1.65 per sq.yd.
In First Appeal the High Court was persuaded to confme to belt-
'1" · ing 'A' & 'B'. The High Court fixed compensation at the rate of Rs.23 D
per sq.yd. for belt' A' and for belt 'B' Rs.16 per sq.yd.
The Claimants by special leave filed -present appeals for enhance-
ment contending that the acquired land comprises of a large area,
situated alongside the G. T. Road in a strip approximately 3 kms. in
length on the other side of which was the railway line; that the belting E
0 had been done in a haphazard way; that the land having l)een acquired
for building purposes, its quality as agricultural land should not have
weighed; and compensation should have been assessed uniformally .
... Dismissing the appeals, this Court,
HELD: 1. The rate of Rs.42 per sq.yd. is claimed on the basis that
., a part of land measuring about 125 sq.yd. which found part of the
yacquired land, was, before the acquisition, purchased by a purchaser ll~
the rate of Rs.42 per sq.yd. and that was an indication that the land
acquired would have fetched Rs.42 per sq.yd. f3E]
G
2. The High Court had rejected the contention of;;the appellants
taking the twin view that firstly the land involved was small in measure
and secondly it was fully constructed ·having a house and a gooown
- _)facing the G. T. Road itself. This reasoning is sound. [3F] -
J, The judgment in which Rs.42 had ·been awarded in another H
1
2 SUPREME COURT,I REPORTS
•' • - . .. :
;.. ...I ~ • • -
[ 1991] I S.C.R.
i
case has not ~n;bfo~gb~;on record a~ a piece of.eyidence to be relied
A
upon by the Claimants, and no permission has been sought to adduce
additional evidence. The said judgm,ent ~annot therefore be used as a
precedent even. to persuade this Court to take the view that the rate
should be ,~.42 ~r, sq;yd.,for· belt. 'A~ if not uniform.ally. All these
factors cumulatively lead to the view that appellants have no case for
B enJianceipent, .and· hav~ been adequately .. compensated. for the land
acquired~ [JH; .~ A·IJL ,.· )' .. .. " ., , _,
~
,. 1 t>d qVIL .A.J?P~L!-ATE. JJ]RISDIQTION: .Civil .-Appeal Nos ..
2646-52
. ""'· . Of . . ,,.. ,.._ .. · • I . ...1.
. 1986., -~·· ~
i-·· ". -C...· . ' · ,.
r_ ••• i~ .. , 1 , ~' ·.~ , : ~;.J. ! ,J,;.,:_: I~~ ~~u-~:._,t' ·: J)"_'•<' I ·,,·~.:t..-...e,· ••1.i'...
1
:;l·
.· , rFrorn1,the ~udgtp._~nt·:ap.d· .Order ..dated theril2.-10A98Lof .the
c Punjab.and ~aryana High~~om:t· i11.R,egulaqFirst Appeal. Nos. 758,
760, 787, 814, 769, 1011and789of1979: ·
!'.r.. :.-:: :}.• .~,~!""'··~ ~;_~-1~ '-·-t""'.::.'i ·q ~-.,,;~ . ) •i_:~_1; -~ '.1 ~-: ·~··1 ~;- 'r:;1:-.· j ·~
_q9vind Mu~hoty,, R,.P)3hatt,:D.K. Gargil'rem Malhotra,'K.C. ~Y
Sharma and R. C. ~a!-lshi}(:_(or the Appellants. :: · ·. · :' . ·, ' · ,.
D
_:;. "f1'.{ , '1. 1 .•
, .TheJudgmentof the C()ut:t was del.ivered byo 1. L~ ,
• :l.f;_'I ~.: • f'f :· • 'j :_. ·;. ,. ::. .·_"
..
\i"' :'~-.·~.:· : ... _. _t;.' ·i.• :.-:-. *··" _1.kt- ... '.~.'.l .i~"-· ;..·!, >· :;/;~ ~··1 .. :: .• ·L :
E
<:tt P~CllJ!l~ J., Thi~;buncJ:i of,appeals,and:speciat:leave petitions
are at the. instanc;~,<;>f th(!_ diss~tisfieciiiandiowners whose lands were·
r,
acquired in bulk by the. St~t.e~of.Haryana,,in the t()wn of!Hissar; for
estabiishing a residential-cum~commercial complex.
,. lU ~ I '-,;. '. i~ i . .. :· t.~ ')'. " f -· ·•
The land totalled approximately 331 acres. The land Acquisition
C~ll~ctor, app()ip.ted to deterlil~ne the:c<;>mpensation belted the land in
F · t~ree.parts awarci~ng f()r block .'A' compensation at the rate of RsA. n · -rj'
p~f.'.sq .. yd~; f<;>f .block .'.8-'.at. the Tate-of.Rs. 2.43 p.er!sq. yd. ·and for l
blos.k ·q at Rs:.L._65.per sq.yd ...Theidissatisfied claimants .took·the
matter in reference t() ,the. Addi. ·District: Judge, Hissar. who main,
tained the bettirig, bu·t raised the compensation for block 'A' to Rs.10
pe_r .sq. y~:L, b!ei;;k 'W t{) Rs.6 per, sq.yd. and block. 'q' to RsA.50 per
• G sq.. yd,. \r ... 1\~ ;.-,;~- ::/''\"':;~~-:i::;·~;~·~.~--:H f·.·,--e -~f 1 J. ~-·~;:r~·- ___ tt~~,~ '.'!
. •
~;· •• _;+; '' " r,, 1·' /).-~\-!'.·~~~ ·,. ;_~_;;, ,·1~.ff !:.,:1t:Li:;~1,l,.·r.~~A~.- \q.:.·f'~ .-_g •.. :; ,:, . . ~t('"j ll', ~ f -·~
·' · Wh~-n the matt~r.•was-Jakc;:n;up in 1F.irst~App~al· before. the. High .. \...
Court, it was persuaded to wipe out 'C' and confine it to belting 'A' &
, 1. 'B;,.:;,T,he . ~nt_ire.,;eyi9e,µ<;e :WC\~ ~onsfder~(l,1by; the rJ1igh'. Court. mati-
culously to come to the conclusion that belt 'A' shouldJetch compen-
H sation at the rate of Rs.23 per sq.yd; and belt 'B' Rs.16 per sq.yd. Still
~HER SINGH X· STATE;OF HARYANA [PUNCHHI, J.) 3
not satisfied the claimants/appellants by speciaUeave have approached '
A
this .~ourt for~fu!t~er, ~nhance~~nf; .· ' r .•
•
1
.° 1: '-• • l f. . I t_. 1, ' .J 1~. :
The goal of the.appellants is that the belting as such.should go
and the land should uniformaUy be assessed to compensation at the
pi te of Rs .42 per sq. yd. The fqundation for. the argument in the first
instance is that the acquired land comprises of a large area, situated B
alongside the. G.T. Road leading from Delhi to Hissar town in a strip
. .l_, approximaJely. 3. kms. in length on the other side of which was the
railway line. It was also commented that the belting had been done in a
haphazard way. Keeping in regarg the nature of the land, it was
asserted that the land having been acquired forJmilding purposes, its
quality as ~.ultUral ·1and should not have weighed with the courts
__bclmvifilcf compensation should have assessed uniformally space-wise: c
These arguments does not appeal to us: Though the acquisition of
ground space is the object in view, yet the .tiller's affect to keep his
. land more productive cannot be lost sight of in awarding compensa-
1 tion. In fact the belting has kept in regard the quality of the land.
This is the reason for its appearing to be a haphazard line on the plan. D
On the second limb of the argument, that it should have fetched
uniform rate of compensation, we find no supportive material on
record and none has been pres~d ~efore us on which we could change
the decision, merely on the comment that belting is normally not
>--- resorted to. We are not persuaded in the instant case to discard the
' belting system and lean towards uniformity. E
... The rate of Rs .42 per sq. yd. is claimed on the basis that a part of
land measuring about 125 sq. yd. which formed part, of the acquired
land, was, before the acquisition, purchased by a purchaser at the rate
of Rs.42 per sq.yd. and that was an indication that the land acquired
i would have fetched Rs.42 per sq. yd. The High Court had rej~cted the F
~· contention of the appellants taking the twin view that firstly the land
1 involved was small in measUTe and secondly it was fully constructed
a
naving a house and godown facing the G.T. Road itself. We find this
reasoning sound. Having not been able to persuade us, e.ach of learned
counsel for the appellants differently putforth thanhe sole. instance
which the High Court had -rejected had later been relied by it in G
another case pertaining to other land tinder acquisition under the same
_ -'{ noti~icati?~ and having ~wardedlhe rate of Rs.42 per sq .~d. We.regret
our mab1bty to entertam the argument because there 1s nothmg on
record to support the same. The judgment in which such view has
statedly been taken has not been brought on record as a piece of
evidence to be relied upon by the claimants and no permission has H
4 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1991] 1 S.C.R.
A been sought to adduce additional evidence. The said judgment cannot (
be used as a precedent even to persuade us to take the view that the ,.>---..
rate should be Rs.42 per sq. yd. for belt 'A' if not uniformaly. All these
factors cumulatively lead us to the view that appellants have no case
for enhancement and have been adequately compensated for the land
acquired. No interference is thu~ required in the instant case.
B
Accordingly for the view above taken, we dismiss the appeals as
also the special leave petitions. I.A. for condonation of delay in SLP
unnumbered titled Kanhya Lal v. State of Haryana, is dismissed as
withdrawn at the askance of the learned counsel for the appellant.
There shall be no order as to costs in all these cases.
c
V.P.R Appeals dismissed.
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