Judgment

KRISHNA IYER, J.:- This is a pedestrian appeal by a land-owner whose property, having been acquired compulsorily by the State, asks for more compensation, probably appetised by increases over the Collector s award granted by the City Civil Court and the High Court. The grounds urged are conventional, based on comparison of prices shown in land Sales in the neighbourhood and the general escalation of urban land values in the country.

2. 127 odd grounds (a ground is around 5 1/2 cents; actually 2,400 sq. ft) were acquired in 1959 for the construction of a Housing Colony for the Madras Port Trust employers by the then Madras State. They comprise R.S. No. 4032/1 and other items with which we are not concerned, since the owners of those items have not come up in appeal to this Court. The relevant notification under S. 4 (1) was made on August 12, 1959 and so the compensation has to be pegged to the market value as on that date. Of course, 16 years have rolled by since, thanks to delay which has come to stay in the administrative and forensic processes of our land. That is by the way. The Land Acquisition Officer awarded Rs. 800/- per ground. The City Civil Court, approaching th