Civil Appeal No 1264 of 1969
Appeal by certificate from the judgment and order dated the 12th Feb 1968 of the High Court of Assam and Nagaland at Gauhati in First Appeal No 21 of 1963
D Mookherjee and section K Nandy for the appellant
M H Chowdhury and section N Chowdhury for the respondent The Judgment of the Court was delivered by KRISHNA IYER J
The concurrent conclusions of fact reached by both the courts below regarding the quantum of compensation payable to the appellant on the acquisition of his land for a public purpose by the State are assailed by Shri D Mukherjee before us on the ground that the amount is grossly inadequate
Having heard him in the light of the High Court s reasoning we are persuaded to affirm the finding
100 bighas of land belonging to the appellant a Tea Planter were first requisitioned by Government to settle landless people and the owner gladly  agreed to surrender the area which on his own showing was lying unused
Later the State proceeded to acquire the land under s7 1A of the Assam Land Requisition and Acquisition Act 1948 Assam Act XXV of 1948
The sole dispute turns on whether the lesser scale of compensation proceeded under s71A or the larger one stipulated under s71 is attracted to the situation
The simple statutory test that settles the issue is to find out whether the land acquired is Lying fallow or uncultivated
If it is a small compensation alone is awardable as laid down in s71A of the Act
On the other 69 hand
if it is ten garden the quantum is as under section 23 of the Land Acquisition Act 1894
This decisive factor lends itself to easy decision because a plethora of evidence to most of which the appellant is a party proceeds on the basis that the land in question is fallow
The High Court has collected and considered the prior statements and other materials leading to the reasonable holding that s71A appropriately applied to this case
It follows that the appeal has no merit and deserves to be dismissed
We order both parties to bear their respective costs
Subject to this direction the appeal is dismissed
V M K Appeal dismissed


Summary:
100 bights of land lying unused were requisitioned by Government to settle landless people
The appellant a tea planter willingly surrendered the same
But when the State proceeded to acquire the land under section 71A of  the Assam Land Requisition and Acquisition Act 1948 he disputed the payment of lesser scale of compensation prescribed under section 71A of the Act The Courts below concurrently held against him
Dismissing the appeal  HELD The simple statutory test that settles the issue is lo find out whether the land acquired is Lying fallow or uncultivated
If it is a small compensation alone is awardable as laid down in section 71A of the Act
On the other hand if it is tea garden the quantum is as under section 23 of the Land Acquisition Act 1894
Plethora of evidence adduced in this case clearly proceeds on the basis that the land in question is fallow
The High Court has therefore rightly held that section 71A appropriately applied to this case
68H 69B