S.B.SINHA, J. - (1.) APPELLANTS were owners of the lands situate in village Ghewra. The said lands were acquired for a public purpose, namely construction of L.P.G. Bottling Plant. Notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short 'the Act') was issued on 18th March, 1985 in terms whereof, compensation @ Rs.14,000/- ; Rs.12,000/- and Rs.10,000/- per bigha was offered categorizing the acquired lands in three categories viz. 'A', 'B' and 'C'.
(2.) APPLICATIONS for reference in terms of Section 18 of the Act having been made, the Reference Court determined the fair market value at Rs.23,970/- ; Rs. 21,970/- and Rs.19,970/- per bigha respectively having regard to categorization by the Land Acquisition Collector. Being dissatisfied with the said judgment the appellants filed Appeals before the High Court claiming compensation at the rate of Rs.40,000/- per bigha. However, a Division Bench of the High Court, having regard to its earlier decision rendered in Ranjit Singh vs. Union of India reported in 48(1992) DLT 138, where the lands were acquired for the same purpose and under the same Notification, determined the market value at Rs.26,.775/- ; Rs.24,775/- and Rs.22,775/- per bigha for categories 'A', 'B' and 'C' respectively. The contention raised before us is that the High Court committed a serious error in passing the impugned judgment in so far as it three sale deeds which were marked as Exts. A-5 to A-7 had not been taken into consideration. The details of the said sale deeds are as under :- "(i) Vide Ex.A-5, 2 Bigha 1 Biswas land in village Ghewra was sold for Rs.45,000/- i.e. around Rs.22,000/- per Bigha as on 15.10.81" (ii) Vide Ex.A-6, 2 Bigha 13 Bisws land was sold in village Tikri Kalan for Rs.42,000/- i.e. Rs.25,500/- approx. per bigha. (iii) Vide Ex.A-7, 12 Biswas land in village Tikri was sold on 23.10.81 for Rs.25,000/- i.e. @ Rs.41,650/- per bigha approx. The appellants furthermore relied on a purported Lok Adalat Award wherein the market value of the similarly situated land was fixed at Rs.22,000/- per bigha. Our attention has also been drawn to a document purported to be showing the Market Price of Delhi Agricultural Lands.
(3.) THE High Court, as noticed above, has proceeded to determine the market value of the land keeping in view its earlier decision in Ranjit Singh (supra). A Special Leave Petition being No.3211 of 1993 was filed by Ranjit Singh against the said order which stood dismissed in limine on 19th April, 1993.;