Judgment :-

V.S. Sirpurkar, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. This is an appeal against the judgment of the High Court wherein the High Court has awarded the land acquisition compensation @ Rs.39,300/- per bigha. The High Court relied on its earlier judgment without citing the same wherein it had fixed the land acquisition compensation @ Rs.34,150/- per bigha in respect of the Notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act dated 19.08.1976. On that basis, the High Court, considering the difference of 1-1/2 years, enhanced the amount at the rate of 10 per cent per year and thus granted compensation @ Rs.39,300/- per bigha.

3. The concerned lands are from village Dallupura which have been acquired by the Notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act dated 22.03.1978 which ripened into the Notification under Section 6 dated 27.09.1978. The High Court, however, specifically ordered that the appellants would not be entitled to the benefit under Section 23 (1-A) of the Land Acquisition Act (hereafter `the Act').

4. Shri P.H. Parekh, learned Senior Counsel pointed out firstly that the claimants in this case could not have been deprived of the benefit under Section 23 (1-A) of the Act since the award was passed on 25.02.1983 and it was pending on 24.09.1984. He invited our attention to the Constitution Bench decision of this Court in K.S. Paripoornan

v. State of Kerala & Ors. [1994 (5) SCC 593] wherein this Court had culled out the ratio in paragraph 110 as follows:

"110. For all these reasons the questions raised in these petitions are answered as below:

(1) Section 23(1-A) providing for additional compensation is attracted in every case where reference was pending under Section 18 before the Court [Section 23(1- A)].

(2) No additional compensation is payable in appeals pending on or after 24-9-1984 either in High Court or this Court.

(3) Additional compensation under Section 23(1-A) is also payable in all those cases where the proceedings were pending and the award had not been made by the Collector on or before 30-4-1982 [Section 30(1)(a)].

(4) Similarly every landowner is entitled to additional compensation where the land acquiring proceedings started after 30-4-1982 whether the award by the Collector was made before 24-9-1984 or not [Section 30(1)(b)].

(5) XXX"

5. Accordingly as per the sub-para (3) of paragraph 110, it is clear that the claimants would be entitled to the compensation under Section 23 (1-A) read with Section 30 (1) (b) since the award had not been made on or before 30.04.1982. The claimants would, therefore, be entitled to that benefit though the benefit seems to have been rejected by the High Court without giving any reasons. That direction of the High court is, therefore, set aside and it is held that the claimants would be entitled to the benefit under Section 23 (1-A) of the Act.

6. However, Shri P.H. Parekh argued that the High Court had erred in fixing the compensation @ Rs.39,300/- per bigha. He further pointed out that the claimants herein had moved an application under Order VI Rule 17 read with Section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure, enhancing their claim before the High Court to Rs.350 per sq. yds. He pointed out that in the case reported as Delhi Development Authority v. Bali Ram Sharma & Others [2004 (6) SCC 533] in respect of the villages Kondli, Gharoli and Dallupura, this Court had awarded compensation @ Rs.76,550/-per bigha. In that case, this Court, relying on Karan Singh & Ors. v. Union of India [1997 (8) SCC 186] had scaled down the compensation to Rs.76,550/-per bigha from the one awarded by the High Court @ Rs.3.45 lakh per bigha. Shri Parekh, therefore, suggests that even the claimants in this case whose lands have been acquired in Dallupura would be entitled at least to the compensation @ Rs.76,550/-per bigha. The lands at Dallupra, Kondli and Gharoli have been held to be identically circumstanced. In fact, in Bali Ram Sharma's case (cited supra), the Court was dealing with th