Judgment

A. ALAGIRISWAMI, J :- These three appeals by the State of West Bengal are against the judgment of the Calcutta High court allowing in part appeals of the present respondents before the Calcutta High Court against the judgment of the District Judge of Midnapore in three references under s, 18 of the Land Acquisition Act. 858.59 acres of land belonging to the respondents were acquired by the State of West Bengal in pursuance of a notification dated 17-1-52 under Section 4 (1) of the Land Acquisition Act. The lands acquired consisted of different types but we are in these appeals concerned only with 607.84 acres of danga land. In 150 acres out of the 607.84 acrea sabai grass was grown.

2. The respondents had claimed compensation at the rate of Rupees 800 per acre for land on which sabai grass was grown and Rs. 200 per acre for the rest of the danga land. The Land Acquisition Collector had awarded compensation at the rate of Rs. 50 per acre for all the danga lands including the portion on which sabai grass was grown. He awarded compensation at the rate of Rs. 26/4/- per acre for the value of sabai grass grown on 100 acres of land. The learned District Judge upheld the order of the Land Acquisition Collector as regards the compensation awarded in respect of all the danga lands but in respect of the standing crop of sabai grass he held that 150 acres had been grown with sabai grass, that 18 maunds of sabai grass could be grown in an acre, that the value of sabai grass was Rs. 3/- per maund and taking 1/3rd for cultivating expenses, raised the compensation for the Standing crop to Rs. 5,400/-.

3. The learned Judges of the High Court fixed the compensation in respect of the danga lands on which sabai grass was grown at Rs. 800 an acre, after holding, as did the District Judge, that 150 acres land was cultivated with sabai grass. They held that the owners of the land were entitled to compensation in respect of those lands at a multiple of 20 times the annual income. For the rest of the danga lands the compensation was raised to Rs. 100/- an acre. The appeals are confined only to these two questions.

4. Mr. B, Sen appearing on behalf of the State of West Bengal contended that it looked rather absurd that while sali land, which is considered to be the best quality of land on which paddy is grown, was awarded compensation at the rate of Rupees 425/- per acre and the land owners had no objection to the compensation, they wanted Rs. 800 per acre for land growing sabai grass. It must be noted that even the land owners claimed only Rs. 600 per acre for sali land, Rs. 800 per acre for danga land on which urban grass was grown and for the rest they claimed Rs. 200/- per acre. While the land classification for revenue purposes might have its own rationale, it is not uncommon to find that land which has a lower classification for revenue purposes fetches a higher price in the market. The question of the value of the land on which sabai grass is grown should therefore be decided on other considerations. In this connection we may refer to the book called "The Wealth of India", which is a dictionary of Indian raw materials and industrial products published by the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, which has an article on sabai grass in Vol. III, pp. 219-221. It refers to sabai grass as a tufted perennial grass common, among other places, in Bengal and that it adapts itself readily to the barren danga soils of West Bengal. According to this book, in the danga soils of West Bengal the yield averages to 20-30 md, per acre per annum. The yield and quality of grass from continuously cropped areas suffer after 7-10 years. It is therefore necessary to withhold cropping for one or two years at fair intervals. It would thus be seen that the fact that the life of sabai grass is 7 to 10 years does not mean that the land on which it is grown is useless thereafter or that its value can be worked out on any other basis except that of a multiple of