The categorization of agricultural land acquired for urban development purposes on the basis of agricultural quality is illegal.

1. This order will dispose of C.W.P. Nos.3822 to 3829 and 4000 of 1971, as they arise out of the same aquisition proceedings and a common award of the Tribunal.

2. Under Section 36 of the Punjab Town Improvement Act, 1922 (hereinafter referred to as the Act), the Ludhiana Improvement Trust notified acquisition of land for Gill Road Development Scheme within the municipal limits of Ludhiana town. The scheme was later on approved by the Punjab Government (Local Government) vide notification dated 6th December, 1967 under Section 42 of the Act. The total acquired area was approximately 200 acres. The Land Acquisition Collector, by award dated 14th Jan, 1969 allowed compensation at the following rates:-

For land up to a depth of 12 Gathas from the road at the rate of Rs. 30/ per Biswansi.

The rest of the land was categorised on the basis of agricultural use and compensation was allowed as follows:-

Chahi and land under the houses at the rate of Rs. 20/- per Biswansi;

Rosli (Barani) and Bhudd land at the rate of Rs. 15/- per Biswansi;

Banjar Qadim at half the rate of Barani, i.e. at the rate of Rs. 7.50 Per Biswansi;

Ghairmumkin land at the rate of Rs. 4/- Per Biswansi.

Feeling dissatisfied with the award of the Collector, the petitioners sought references which came up for consideration before the Land Acquisition Tribunal, created under the Act, who by order dated 26th June, 1971, upheld the valuation fixed by the Land Acquisition Collector but allowed 15 per cent solatium and 6 per cent per annum interest in addition to the award of the Collector. Still feeling aggrieved from the award of the Tribunal, the claimants-petitioners have come up in these writ petitions under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India.

3. Most of the points argued before me by the counsel for the claimants are covered by a Division Bench judgment of this court in C. W. P. No. 2523 of 1970, Arjan Singh V/s. State of Punjab, decided on 13th July, 1976, against the petitioners and, therefore, need not be discussed in detail in this judgment. In Arjan Singh s case (supra), the acquisition was for the same purpose, namely "Gill Road Development Scheme" but the award of the Tribunal which was impugned was dated 6th May, 1970, and, therefore, was a different decision of the Tribunal as compared to the present set of cases, which were decided by the Tribunal on 26th June, 1971.

4. The counsel for the petitioners has raised a few additional points as follows:

1. That the acquired land belonging to the petitioners was situate within the municipal limits of Ludhiana town and, therefore, even if for the time being it was being used for agricultural purposes, it had to be evaluated as urban property; and

2. That the acquired land had the potential for being used for urban purposes and, therefore, no categorisation on the basis of agricultural use could be made and that on the aforesaid basis there was an apparent error of law on the face of the record which could be corrected in the writ jurisdiction, as held by the Supreme court in Syed Yakoob V/s. K. S. Radhakrishnan, AIR 1964 SC 477, which has been relied upon by the Division Bench of this Court in Arjan Singh s case (supra).

5. As regards the first point, the award of the Land Acquisition Collector, a copy of which has been annexed as B to the writ petition, mentions in the opening part of para 1 that the acquired land is within the boundary of municipal limits of Ludhiana and, therefore, it is indisputably proved that the acquired land formed part of Ludhiana town. Further, in para 18 (ix) of the writ petition, the petitioners have stated as follow:-

".......... . . The Tribunal should have fixed the market price of the land in accordance with the provisions of Ss. 23 and 24 of the Acquisition Act and should have taken into consideration the potential value of the land in dispute as a building site as it is situated within the municipal limits of Ludhiana, which is a very fast developing town a