JUDGMENT

Mohd. Azmi FJ:

The scheduled land of which the market value is in dispute in this appeal was part of the appellants' oil palm estate near the township of Kepala Batas (hereinafter referred to as "Bertam Estate"). The land acquired for the purpose of LPN complex was approximately 20 acres which was small in size compared to the 5,000 total acreage of Bertam Estate. The relevant date for determining the market value by virtue of s. 8 acquisition under the Land Acquisition Act, 1960 was 19 June 1980. Relying on Encik Fernandez's valuation report, the Collector of Land Revenue made an award of RM12,600 per acre both for Lot 2014 and Lot 185 - the two lots affected by the acquisition. The appellants objected to the award and referred it to the Penang High Court under s. 38 of the Act. Abdul Razak J sitting with two Assessors enhanced the Collector's award to RM15,000 per acre. The appellants are, however, still dissatisfied with the enhanced award and before us it is contended that the compensation should have been increased to RM20,000 per acre, based on KEMAS Centre acquisition which had taken place about 9½ months prior to the present acquisition, also affecting Bertam Estate.

As to the facts, we wish only to recapitulate some of the main features particularly as to the difference in expert opinion between Encik Fernandez (DW1) for the respondent and Mr. Loh Soong Chew (PW1) for the appellants. The subject land was situated to the right of the main road as one proceeded from Butterworth towards Alor Star and it was about two miles after the town of Kepala Batas. Its road frontage was Jalan Lahar Ikan Mati, which was some distance away from the main road (see plan, Appendix `A' to Encik Fernandez's report). The detailed description and location of the subject land had been fully set out in Encik Fernandez' report and quoted extensively by the learned Judge in his judgment, and there is no necessity for us to reproduce them here. The Collector's award of RM12,600 was based on Encik Fernandez's valuation of the land as agricultural-user subject to the constraint placed by s. 214A of the National Land Code which sought to control fragmentation of estate land. Encik Fernandez's was of the opinion that since there was no evidence of sales of comparable lands to serve as a basis for determining the market value, and no evidence of sales of agricultural estates of similar size in the neighbourhood, in arriving at his valuation, he took the following main factors into consideration:

(i) being estate land it was subject to the constraint of s. 214A of the National Land Code;

(ii) although the subject land was under mature oil palm, its location outside the zone earmarked for development rendered its development potential very remote;

(iii) the subject land road frontage was Jalan Lahar Ikan Mati and not the Butterworth/Alor Star main road;

(iv) it was two miles away from Kepala Batas town;

(v) previous awards between RM8,000 and RM20,000 per acre, made and accepted by the owners in recent acquisitions affecting other estate land in the vicinity and Bertam Estate itself viz:

Material date Area of acquisition acquired

(1) Malakoff Estate (to the 13.9.1979 1 acre south of Bertam Estate) at RM8,000 per acre

(2) Choong Lye Hock Estate 13.9.1979 10 acres (adjoining Malakoff Estate) at RM6,500 per acre

(3) Bertam Estate at 7.9.1979 9 acres RM12,000 per acre (for low-cost housing)

(4) Bertam Estate at 30.8.1979 2 acres RM20,000 per acre (for KEMAS Centre)

(5) Bertam Estate at 13.9.1979 18 acres RM11,400 per acre (for road construction)

On the other hand, Mr. Loh for the appellant made separate valuation for the scheduled land and its oil palm. In his opinion, for each acre RM16,000 should be the market value for the land and RM6,500 for the crop. The learned Judge did not find any difficulty in rejecting this double accounting method of valuation. We agree that when the scheduled land is valued on the basis of agricultural land with its development pot