( 1 ) THE question for consideration in this appeal is as to what should be the appropriate market value of the land in Village Poothkalan, Delhi as on the date of notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act (hereinafter referred to as the Act) which is this case was published on 11th December, 1981. The declaration under Section 6 was issued on 11th April, 1984. The Land Acquisition Collector made his award being Award No. 20/85-86 on 11th November, 1985. By the said notification dated 11th December, 1981 under Section 4 of the Act large tracts of land falling in Village Poothkalan were acquired for planned development of Delhi. The Land Acquisition Collector categorised the acquired land into three categories and offered compensation for the acquired land as under: @5tab = Category A rs. 12,100. 00 per bigha @5tab = Category B rs. 12,000. 00 per bigha @5tab = Category C rs. 6,000. 00 per bigha

( 2 ). The land owners were dissatisfied with the offer of compensation made by the Collector and sought reference under Section 18 of the Act. In this appeal the learned Additional District Judge did not agree with the division of the acquired land into three categories by the Collector. Thus, the categorisation was discarded. He fixed the market value of land on the relevant date as Rs. 18,500. 00 per bigha. Another Additional District Judge, Delhi in another set of cases pertaining to the same village the same notification under Section 4 of the Act and the same award, fixed the market value of the land at Rs. 15. 700. 00 per bigha. Categorisation of land into three categories was again discarded.

( 3 ). Mr. Mukul Rohtagi, the learned Counsel for the appellants submitted that the land in Village Poothkalan had tremendous potential value for building activity. He relied on the award of the Collector itself to show the unique locational advantage of the acquired land. The Collector had observed in the award that land of Village Poothkalan is quite fertile and is situated on three sides of the village abadi. The main road from Delhi to Kanjhawla passes through the land and three minor roads are also at site which are from Village Poothkalan to Rithala; from village Poothkalan to Pehladpur Banger and from Village Poothkalan to Nangloi.

( 4 ). From this it is clear that the land in question was surrounded by village abadi and there was a net work of roads all around leading to important places.

( 5 ). The learned Counsel for the appellants next relied on the fact that the Rohini complex had been developed by the Delhi Development Authority in this very area which had all the civic amenities. The date of Section 4 notification in the present case is towards the end of the year 1981 and by that time lot of development had taken place all around the area. All the basic amenities like water, electricity, roads were available in the area. All these factors showed that the land had great potential as a building site which enhanced its market value.

( 6 ). So far as the evidence on record is concerned, the learned Counsel for the appellants brought to our notice the fact that there are three sale deeds on record pertaining to sale of land within the village. These are Ex. A-1 dated 10th September, 1981. This sale deed is regarding sale of one bigha of agricultural land sold for Rs. 30,000. 00 per bigha for use as agricultural land. The next sale deed is Ex. A-2 dated 21st December, 1979 regarding one bigha of land for a consideration of Rs. 28,000. 00 This was also a sale of agricultural land to be used for agricultural purposes as mentioned in the sale deed itself. The third sale deed is Ex. A-3 dated 22nd June, 1981 for 12 Biswas for a sum of Rs. 48,000. 00. There are also Ex. A-5 to Ex. A-8 on record which are sale deeds all dated 7th September, 1981 for one bigha each for a sum of Rs. 25,000. 00 each. The learned Additional District Judge appears to have worked out an average of all the sale deed excepting sale de