Case: Anjani Molu Dessai Vs. State Of Goa

1. An area of 3,65,375 sq.m. of land in Balli Village, Quepem Taluk, Goa was acquired for laying the New Broad Gauge line for Konkan Railway in pursuance of preliminary notification dated 27.6.1991 (published on 30.7.1991) and final declaration dated 4.11.1991. The acquisition included parts of survey Nos. 45/1, 45/5, 45/6, 51/1 and 51/2 of Balli village measuring 60343 sq.m. (for short the `acquired lands) belonging to the appellant. The Land Acquisition Collector, by his Award dated 7.12.1993, awarded compensation at the rate of Rs.12/- per sq.m. for bharad (orchard) lands and Rs.6/- per sq.m. for irrigated (paddy) lands. The Reference Court and the High Court affirmed the said valuation by rejecting the reference and appeal by the appellant. The refusal to increase the compensation is under challenge in this appeal by special leave. The only question that arises for consideration is whether compensation awarded, should have been at a higher rateDescription, Location and potential of the land2. AW-1 (power of attorney holder of the appellant) has given evidence stating that the acquired lands are level lands, fit for construction; that all amenities and facilities including a market, a school, a hospital, temple and the village panchayat office are situated within a distance of half kilometer; that there is an access road right upto the acquired lands and the bus stop is also within half a kilometer; that electricity, water and telephone facilities are available for the acquired lands; and that there are houses within a distance of 50 meters from acquired lands. He has also stated that the acquired lands are orchard lands with coconut, cashew, mango, jackfruit and other trees, with houses and a well. The Land Acquisition Collector has also confirmed in the Award that the lands are situated in Balli village; that the major portion of the lands with several structures and a well, lies on the eastern side of National Highway from Margao to Karwar. The award also states that the major portion of acquired lands is bharad (orchard) land consisting of cashew, coconut and other fruit bearing trees and some small portions are paddy fields3. The High Court has also referred to the situation of the property and has noted that the acquired lands are in a village where all basic amenities like primary health centre, high school, post office were available within a distance of 500 meters. It can therefore be safely concluded that the acquired lands are not undeveloped rural land, but can be urbanisable land situated near a developed semi-urban village with access to all infrastructure facilitiesBasis of compensation awarded4. The Land Acquisition Collector has relied upon two sale transactions in his award to arrive at the market value of the acquired lands4.1 The first is a Sale Deed dated 30.8.1989 relating to sale of 2055 sq.m. of land in survey No.83 which is situated at a distance of 200 m. from the acquired lands which was sold at the rate of Rs.43.80 per sq.m. The Award states that the land sold under the deed dated 30.8.1989 is a developed bharad type of land with approach road. Therefore it is similar to the acquired lands. The description of the land and the extent of the land sold, make it clear that what was sold was an orchard land and not a residential plot. To arrive at the market value of the acquired land, the Land Acquisition Collector deducted 45% from the sale price of Rs.43.80 per sq.m., towards `development cost, i.e. providing approach roads and open spaces, expenses relating to development work, conversion charges etc. He thus arrived at the value of the undeveloped plot as Rs.24 per sq.m. As there was a gap of 23 months between the date of the said sale and the date of preliminary notification in this case, the Collector provided a cumulative increase at the rate of 14.5% per annum over the said Rs.24/- to arrive at the market value as on 30.7.1991 as Rs.32.24 per sq.m4.2) The second sale deed relied upon by the Collector is dated 30.1.1990 and related to the sale of 7600 sq.m. of land in survey No.77 of Balli Village situated at a distance of one km from the acquired land, sold at the rate of Rs.3 per sq.m. As there was a gap of about 18 months between the date of the said sale deed and the date of preliminary notification, the collector provided a cumulative rate of 14.5% per annum over Rs.3/- and arrived at the market value on 30.7.1991 as Rs.3.82 per sq.m5. The Collector next averaged the said two rates derived from the sale prices under the two sale deeds (that is, Rs.32.24 per sq.m. and Rs.3.82 sq.m.) and arrived at the market value for bharad type of land as Rs.18 per sq.m. However, as the Collector had separately valued and awarded compensation for the trees (that is Rs.24,14,677/- for the entire 3,65,375 per sq.m. acquired) he was of the view that the average value of trees per sq.m. would be around Rs.6/- and that should be deducted from the said market value of Rs. 18 per sq.m. He thus awarded compensation at the rate of Rs.12 per sq.m. for the bharad land. Thereafter he determined the rate of paddy lands as Rs.6/- per sq.m

Reasoning: Therefore, we are of the view that the averaging of the prices under the two Sale Deeds was not justified. The Sale Deed dated 31.1.1990 ought to have been excluded for the reasons stated above. That means compensation for the acquired lands had to be fixed only with reference to the Sale Deed dated 30.8.1989 relied upon by the Land Acquisition Collector which will be Rs.57.50 per sq.m. As the said market value has been fixed with reference to comparable bharad land with fruit trees, the question of again separately awarding any compensation for the trees situated in the acquired land does not arise