- (1.) These two appeals, that is, Regular First Appeal Nos. 1407 and 1455 of 1978, arise out of the same acquisition proceedings and are thus being disclosed of together through this common judgment. In fact the learned counsel for the parties are agreed that identical questions of law and fact arise in these both for consideration.
(2.) The State Government acquired 30 Acres 14 Biswas and 20 Biswansis of land for the expanation of Dhandari Kalan Industrial Focal Point through the publication of a notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act (for short, the Act) on December 15, 1973. The Land Acquisition Collector after hearing the claimants, assessed the market price of the acquired land at the following rates :- 1. Chahi KhalasRs. 28,000/- per acre. 2. Posly BaraniRs. 14,000/- per acre. 3. Ghair Mumkin RastaRs. 4,000/- per acre. As the claimants were not satisfied with this award, they sought references under Section 18 of the Act to the District court at Ludhiana. In both the references the land of the appellants involved is of Posly type. As a result of the said references, the land acquisition Court enhanced the rate of this type of land by Rs. 6,000/- per acre, that is to Rs. 20,000/- per acre in all. Still not being satisfied, the claimants have filed these appeals.
(3.) The learned counsel for the appellants has vehemently stressed before me that the learned lower Court, after recording a categorical finding in paragraph 9 of its judgment that the land under acquisition had acquired potentiality for being converted into residential or commercial sites should not have assessed it as agricultural land for purposes of compensation. I find substance in this submission in view of the following finding recorded by the lower Court : "The Land Acquisition Collector should not have ignored entirely the potentiality of this land for being converted into a residential or commercial site, being near the abadi and focal point of Dhandari Kalan." In fact the very purpose stated in the notification under Section 4 of the Act, that the land is being acquired for the extension of Dhandari Kalan Industrial Estate, is suggestive of the fact that the land in question had come to acquire a great potentiality for being utilised as industrial or commercial site. I, therefore, find that the learned lower Court was entirely wrong in determining the market price of this land as agricultural land.;