2005 Supreme(SC) 1454

2005(8) Supreme 62
Supreme Court of India
(From Madras High Court)
Ashok Bhan & Altamas Kabir, JJ.
Pattammal & Ors. —Appellants
versus
Union of India & Anr. —Respondents
Civil Appeal Nos. 1500 of 2004
With
Civil Appeal Nos. 1501 of 2004, 1502 of 2004 and Civil Appeal No. 6651 of 2005 @ SLP (Civil) No. 6309/2004
Decided on 8-11-2005
Counsel for the Parties :
For the Appellant in C.A.No. 1500/2004 : Dhruv Mehta, P.B. Suresh, Vipin Nair, V.K. Biju, Advocates for M/s. Temple Law Firm, Advocates.
For the Appellant in C.A.Nos. 1501-1502/2004 : S. Guru Krishna Kumar, Mrs. Srikalaa G.K., Senthil Kumar and S.R. Setia, Advocates.
For the Appellant in C.A.No. 6651/2005 : K.V. Vishwanathan, G. Balaji, Ms. Mahalakshmi Pavani, Raghunath, Advocates for M/s. Mahalakshmi Balaji & Co., Advocates.
For the Respondents : T.L.V. Iyer, Sr. Advocate, V.G. Pragasam, Advocate.

Important point
Under Section 51A of the Land Acquisition Act, a presumption as to the genuineness of the contents of document is permitted to be raised without examination of the parties thereto, if the said presumption is not rebutted by other evidence.

Headnote:Land Acquisition Act, 1894—Sections 4, 18, 23 and 51A—Land Acquisition Compensation—Determination of Acquisition of 9 Hectares 75 Ares land situated in Pondicherry for construction of a stadium—Market value of lands was fixed by the Collector at Rs. 2,550 per Are upon treating the same as ‘Wet’ lands—Reference Court classified the lands in question as having potential value as house sites and fixed the market value thereof at Rs. 13,500/- per Are—Appeals—High Court reduced the value of lands afixed at Rs. 13,500/- per Are by the Reference Court to Rs. 7,000/- per Are—High Court held that sale deeds which had been relied upon by the Reference Court to fix market value of acquired lands could not be considered in the absence of examination of parties to the documents—In other matters involving some of the lands acquired for construction of stadium, Division Bench of the High Court had fixed market value of lands acquired at Rs. 7,000/- per Are—Whether High Court was justified in reducing market value of acquired lands from Rs. 13,500/- per Are to Rs. 7,000/- per Are—(No)—Reference Court had adopted the correct procedure upon examination of location and potential value of acquired lands in its detailed award.

       Held : The Land Acquisition Collector classified the acquired lands are ‘Wet’ lands and fixed the market value thereof at Rs. 2550/- per Are. The Reference Court took note of the fact that the petitioners before him had been doing business in real estate of purchasing land and developing them into housing sites. It also took note of the fact that the acquired lands are situated at a place, which had tremendous potential value and had been wrongly classified as ‘wet’ lands. It was noted that the said lands are situated just behind Joseph Colony abutting Meetu Street, which links the lands with Thomas Arul Street and is very near to the junction of Thomas Arul Street and By-Pass Road. It was noticed further that the By-Pass is the broadest road in Karaikal connecting the new bus stand to Thomas Arul Street and that important Government Offices like the Administrative Office, Court, General Hospital, Municipal Office, Schools and colleges are located very near to the acquired lands. It appears that there is a residential colony called Bharat Nagar Extension situated within 200 meters from the acquired lands and the beach road is situated within 500 meters where there are a number of Government and Private buildings. It was further noted that Government had acquired large tracts of land along the beach road for various public purposes like construction of Excursion center, Automatic Telephone Exchange, Postal Employees quarters, etc. It was the finding of the Reference Court that the acquired lands are potential house sites which were ideal for house construction and that but for the acquisition the petitioners could have sold a portion of the acquired lands as house sites. (Para 10)

       Considering the location of the acquired lands and their high potential for commercial exploitation the Reference Court recorded the fact that there had been a steep escalation in the land value in the area in question within a short interval which fact was also admitted by the Land Acquisition Officer. Accordingly, placing reliance on Exhibit A-15, the Reference Court fixed the market value of the acquired property at Rs. 13,500/- per Are together with 30 percent solatium and 12 percent additional market value in terms of Section 23 (iA) of the Act. (Para 14)

       In our view, the Reference Court had adopted the correct procedure upon examination of the location and potential value of the acquired lands in its detailed award, as also the contemporaneous sale deeds which indicated that there had been a steep escalation of the price of lands in the immediate vicinity of the acquired lands, which fact had also been admitted by the Land Acquisition Officer. In our view, there was no justification for the Madras High Court to have reduced the market value of the acquired lands which had been fixed at Rs. 13,500/- per Are by the Reference Court. (Paras 35 and 36)

       Apart from the above, the Madras High Court in making the impugned judgments relied on the earlier decisions of this Court requiring proof of documents for the purposes of Section 51A of the Act, which view had been overruled subsequently firstly in V. Narasaiah’s case (supra), and was later reiterated by the Constitution Bench in Cement Corporation of India Ltd.’s case. (Para 34)