Summary
About 38 hectares in Village Sala, Dhar were acquired in 2004 to rehabilitate people displaced by the raising of the Sardar Sarovar Dam. The Reference Court valued the land from sale deeds of three tiny plots and then applied cumulative deductions of 65% and 48%. The Madhya Pradesh High Court, following its decision in Upendra Singh concerning other land, reduced the total deduction to 35%. It later corrected its figures under Section 152 CPC, raising the per-hectare value used. The Supreme Court set aside both orders and remanded. A market value fixed for different land cannot be transplanted without findings that the lands are comparable in location and nature, and dismissal of the SLP in Upendra Singh did not make it binding here. Whether any deduction for development is warranted, and how much, depends on evidence about the land's development and the amenities it needs.
Issues
- Whether the High Court could adopt the market value and 35% development deduction fixed in another acquisition case without findings of comparability.
- On what basis the deduction for development and largeness of area is to be determined.
Provisions considered
- Sections 4(1), 18 and 23, Land Acquisition Act, 1894Market value is the price a willing buyer would pay a willing seller on the Section 4(1) date, assessed from comparable sales with suitable adjustments for positive and negative factors (Adinarayan Setty, Viluben Jhalejar Contractor). (¶¶ 22, 23, 24)
- Section 152, Code of Civil Procedure, 1908The correction order altering the market value figures was set aside along with the judgment, since market value is to be determined afresh. (¶¶ 3.6, 38)
Held
- The High Court applied none of the settled principles of valuation and blindly followed Upendra Singh, though that land was different in extent and its reference-court value differed by about 346%, with no finding that the lands were in the vicinity, identical in nature or similarly situated; dismissal of the landowners' SLP there did not justify this. (¶¶ 25, 26, 27, 28)
- There is no straitjacket formula for development deductions, which may range from 20% to 75% and consist of land used for roads and amenities and the cost of development; no deduction may be warranted for land in a fully developed area, while an appropriate deduction is due where amenities must be provided, all depending on the evidence. (¶¶ 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
- The High Court fixed the 35% deduction without analysing the evidence or recording findings on the relevant factors, and the question must be reconsidered. (¶¶ 35, 36, 37)
Result
Civil Appeal Nos. 8857-8858 of 2022 allowed; the Madhya Pradesh High Court (Indore Bench) judgment dated 20.06.2016 in First Appeal No. 131 of 2010 and the correction order dated 08.09.2017 in MCC No. 304 of 2017 set aside, and the matter remitted for fresh determination of market value and development deduction for irrigated and unirrigated land.