Judgment

SHELAT, J. :- These three appeals, by certificate, are by three Khatedars, whose lands were acquired for the submersion area of the Linganmakki reservoir in Mysore State. The ares so acquired were all wet lands and measured 29 acres and 37 guntas 3.32 acres and 8.20 acres respectively. The Special Land Acquisition Officer classified these lands into rain-fed and tank-fed lands, i.e., one crop and two crop lands, and adopting the method of valuation of capitalising the annual rent paid to the appellants fixed Rs. 600 per acre for the tank-fed, i.e., perennially irrigated wet lands, and Rs. 500 per acre for the rain-fed wet lands. He arrived at these figures on a finding that the average annual rent in respect of these lands was 1 1/2 pallas of paddy per acre which meant that the gross rent was Rs. 37.50 at the rate of Rs. 25 per palla. Deducting land revenue and bad debts he found that the net annual income was Rupees 30 per acre. On a reference by the appellants under Sec. 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, the District Judge increased the valuation to Rs. 2500 per acre for tank-fed lands and Rs. 2000 per acre for the rain-fed lands. The District Judge also adopted the method of valuation by capitalising the income by 20 years. But what he did was to take the whole of the net income arising from the lands instead of capitalising only the rent payable to the appellants by the tenants of some of the lands.

2. In appeals filed by the Acquisition Officer against the awards by the District Judge, the High Court of Mysore reduced the compensation to Rs. 1250 per acre for all the lands, irrespective of whether they were tank-fed or rain-fed lands or whether they were self-cultivated or cultivated by tenants. This, the High Court did on the footing that the income from the land was represented by the rent paid by the tenants in respect of some of the lands, that such rent on an average came to 2 1/2 pallas of paddy and that at the rate of Rs. 25 per palla, by capitalising the rent by 20 years, the compensation would come to Rs. 1250 an acre. The High Court, in addition, awarded interest at 6% per annum on the amount of compensation awarded by it. In modifying the District Judge s award and reducing the rate of compensation to Rs. 1250 an acre, the High Court rejected the measure adopted by the District Judge, viz., "that the geni (rent) plus the quantity which the tenant would retain for himself would be the net average income of the land". According to the High Court, the District Judge overlooked the fact the tenant who got some income by cultivating the land did so because he and the members of his family had to expend labour thereon, and that therefore, both the expenses of cultivation as also the value of such labour expended by the tenant ought to be taken into consideration. The High Court held :

"In assessing compensation for lands acquired, on the basis of capitalisation of annual income the usual method adopted is to capitalise the annual rent on the basis of certain number of years purchase"

The High Court also rejected the argument that the land measuring 7 acres 10 guntas, which is the subject-matter of Civil Appeal No. 1354 of 1967 and part of the lands which are the subject-matter of C. A. No. 1353 of 1967 were not cultivated by any tenant and were in fact under the Khatedars personal cultivation and that therefore compensation in regard to them could not be fixed by capitalising the annual rent only. The High Court held that if the measure of capitalised annual rent "is good in respect of the lands leased, it is equally good in respect of the lands personally cultivated by the claimants". On this basis, the High Court allowed the Land Acquisition Officer s appeals, reduced the compensation to Rs. 1250 per acre in respect of all the lands, irrespective of whether they were under tenants cultivation or under the personal cultivation of the claimants.

3. The question raised before us is whether the High Court fol