Case: Raja Niranjan Singh and Another Vs. State of Uttar Pradesh and Others

The appellants owned extensive forest areas at Etawah, Bharthana and Auraiya in the district of Etawah. On October 28, 1944 the Government of Uttar Pradesh issued a notification under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 acquiring an area admeasuring over 6000 acres therefrom for the purpose of preservation of existing tree growth, afforestation and control of erosion by means of regulation of grazing. By an award dated September 6, 1945 the Land Acquisition Officer awarded Rs. 20,0 as compensation for the acquisition of the lands to the appellants. In a reference made by the Land Acquisition Officer, the appellants claimed a sum of Rs. 90, 000 as compensation for the land, Rs. 10, 000 for buildings and Rs. 2, 00, 000 for the tree standing in the forest. The learned District Judge, Mainpuri, came to the conclusion that income which accrued to the appellants from the acquired land by way of grazing charges amounted to Rs. 2000 per year and that 23 times of that amount would represent a fair compensation to the appellants as the market value of the land. The learned Judge valued the standing trees at Rs. 40,0 and awarded a total sum of Rs. 99,0 to the appellants. In First Appeal No. 473 of 1951 filed by the State of Uttar Pradesh, the High Court upheld the value of the land at Rs. 46, 000 but set aside the compensation awarded by the District Court for the value of trees. The High Court has granted to the appellants a certificate to appeal to this Court under Article 133(1)(a) of the Constitution.

Court's reasoning:
6. It is unnecessary in view of this factual position to consider the legal submission of thecounsel that the land and the trees should have been valued separately by reason of the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act cited by him. Were it necessary to consider this contention we would have preferred to hold that since the land was acquired as a forest, it would have to be valued as a forest and that value would depend upon the kind of trees and the number of trees standing in the forest on the date of acquisition. If the value of trees is taken into consideration while valuing the forest, the trees cannot be valued once again for arriving at the total compensation payable to the owners of the forest.