ORDER

R.V. Raveendran J.

1. An area of 3,65,375 sq.m. of land in Balli Village, Quepem Taluk, Goa was acquired for laying the New Broad Gauge line for Konkan Railway in pursuance of preliminary notification dated 27.6.1991 (published on 30.7.1991) and final declaration dated 4.11.1991. The acquisition included parts of survey Nos. 45/1, 45/5, 45/6, 51/1 and 51/2 of Balli village measuring 60343 sq.m. (for short the 'acquired lands') belonging to the Appellant. The Land Acquisition Collector, by his Award dated 7.12.1993, awarded compensation at the rate of Rs. 12/- per sq.m. for bharad (orchard) lands and Rs. 6/- per sq.m. for irrigated (paddy) lands. The Reference Court and the High Court affirmed the said valuation by rejecting the reference and appeal by the Appellant. The refusal to increase the compensation is under challenge in this appeal by special leave. The only question that arises for consideration is whether compensation awarded, should have been at a higher rate.

Description, Location and potential of the land

2. AW-1 (power of attorney holder of the Appellant) has given evidence stating that the acquired lands are level lands, fit for construction; that all amenities and facilities including a market, a school, a hospital, temple and the village panchayat office are situated within a distance of half kilometer; that there is an access road right upto the acquired lands and the bus stop is also within half a kilometer; that electricity, water and telephone facilities are available for the acquired lands; and that there are houses within a distance of 50 meters from acquired lands. He has also stated that the acquired lands are orchard lands with coconut, cashew, mango, jackfruit and other trees, with houses and a well. The Land Acquisition Collector has also confirmed in the Award that the lands are situated in Balli village; that the major portion of the lands with several structures and a well, lies on the eastern side of National Highway from Margao to Karwar. The award also states that the major portion of acquired lands is bharad (orchard) land consisting of cashew, coconut and other fruit bearing trees and some small portions are paddy fields.

3. The High Court has also referred to the situation of the property and has noted that the acquired lands are in a village where all basic amenities like primary health centre, high school, post office were available within a distance of 500 meters. It can therefore be safely concluded that the acquired lands are not undeveloped rural land, but can be reckoned as urbanisable land situated near a developed semi-urban village with access to all infrastructure facilities.

Basis of compensation awarded

4. The Land Acquisition Collector has relied upon two sale transactions in his award to arrive at -the market value of the acquired lands.

4.1. The first is a Sale Deed dated 30.8.1989 relating to sale of 2055 sq.m. of land in survey No. 83 which is situated at a distance of 200 m. from the acquired lands which was sold at the rate of Rs. 43.80 per sq.m. The Award states that the land sold under the deed dated 30.8.1989 is a developed bharad type of land with approach road. Therefore it is similar to the acquired lands. The description of the land and the extent of the land sold, make it clear that what was sold was an orchard land and not a residential plot. To arrive at the market value of the acquired land, the Land Acquisition Collector deducted 45% from the sale price of Rs. 43.80 per sq.m., towards 'development cost', i.e. providing approach roads and open spaces, expenses relating to development work, conversion charges etc. He thus arrived at the value of the undeveloped plot as Rs. 24 per sq.m. As there was a gap of 23 months between the date of the said sale and the date of preliminary notification in this case, the Collector provided a cumulative increase at the rate of 14.5% per annum over the said Rs. 24/- to arrive at the market value as on 30.7.1991 as Rs. 32.24 per