THE SPECIAL LAND ACQUISITION OFFICER, BANGALORE versus T. ADINARAYAN SETTY

Citation: [1959] SUPP. 1 S.C.R. 404 · Decided: 07-11-1958 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: SYED JAFFER IMAM, S.K. DAS, J.L. KAPUR · Disposal: Case Partly allowed
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Judgment (excerpt)

404 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1959] Supp. 
x958 
The appellant will have his costs here and in the court 
Commissioner of below· 
ln,omeo/ax 
Appeal allowed. 
• 
v. 
-Teja Singh 
V enkataram a 
Aiyar ] . 
November 7. 
THE SPECIAL LAND ACQUISITION OFFICER, 
BANGALORE 
v. 
T. ADINARAYAN SETTY 
(JAFER IMAM, S. K. DAS and J. L. KAPUR, JJ.) 
Land Acquisition-Principles of valuation-Exemplars, use 
of-Land Acquisition Act, I894 (l of I894), ss. II and 23. 
Certain land belonging to the respondent was compulsorily 
acquired by the Government for a maternity hospital. 
Most of 
the land consisted of building sites but there was a building on a 
small portion of the land and a portion was low lying-land. The 
Special Land Acquisition Officer held, on the basis of the value of 
sites previously sold by the respondent, that the market value of 
the land was Rs. IO/- per sq. yard and awarded a sum of 
Rs. l,41,169/- to the respondent as compensation. He did not 
give any compensation for the low lying land or for the building. 
Against this award the respondent raised an objection and a 
reference was made to the District Judge. The District Judge 
accepted the rate of Rs. IO/- per sq. yard as fair, reduced the 
amount of deductions for providing electric installations by 
Rs. lO,ooo/- and allowed a sum of Rs. 10,000/- for the low lying 
area at the rate of Rs. 3/- per sq. yard, thereby increasing the 
amount of compensation by Rs. 20,000/-. Not being satisfied the 
respondent appealed to the High Court. The High Court held 
that the rate of compensation for the land except the low lying 
portion, should be Rs. 13/8/- per sq. yard and for the low lying 
portion it should be Rs. 8/8/- per sq. yard. It further awarded 
a sum of Rs. 7,000/- for the building. In arriving at the figure 
of Rs. 13/8/- the High Court took into account only four sale 
transactions which had been made by the respondent at the rates 
of Rs. 12, 15, 14 and 7/8/- per sq. yard but did not take into con-
sideration two other, transactions which had been made by the 
respondent at the rates of Rs. 6/8/- and Rs. 10 per sq. yard. . It 
calculated the average of the four transactions to be Rs. 12/2/-
per sq. yard and then took a second average between Rs. 15/-, 
.. 
(1) S.C.R. SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
405 
which was the maximum price obtained by the respondent and 
z958 
Rs. 12/2/- and arrived at the figure of Rs. 13/8/-. The High 
Court was also influenced by considerations such as the purpose The Special Land 
for which the land was acquired, the report of certain medical Acquisition Officer, 
authorities as· to the unsuitability of the land for the maternity 
Ban1:alore 
hospital and the delay in putting the land to the use for which 
v. 
it was acquired. 
T. Adinarayan 
Held, that with regard to the valuation of the land, other 
Setty 
than the low lying portion, the High Court misdirected itself by 
taking into account extraneous considerations and had committed 
an error of principle in arriving at the figure of Rs. 13/8/- by 
adopting a wrong method of ascertaining the market value. 
The High Court ought to have taken the average of all the six 
sale transactions and arrived at the proper valuation of Rs. II/-
per sq. yard. There was no justification for ignoring two of the 
sale transactions or for taking a second average. 
With respect 
to the compensation for the low lying land and the building 
there was no error of princi pie or otherwise in the findings of 
the High Court and no interference was called for. 
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: 
Civil Appeal No. 
138 of 1955. 
Appeal from the judgment and decree dated Octo-
ber 15, 1953, of the Mysore High Court at Bangalore 
in Regular Appeal No. 255 of 1950-51, arising out of 
the order dated September 18, 1950, of the Court of 
the District Judge, Bangalore, in Misc. Case No. 39 of 
1947-48. 
G. Ohannappa, Assistant Advocate-General, Mysore, 
R. Gopala Krishnan and T. M. Sen, for the appellant. 
A. V. Viswanatha Sastri, M. A. Rangaswami, K. R. 
Sarma and K. R. Choudhury, for the respondent. 
1958. November 7. 
The Judgment of the' Court 
was delivered by 
S. K. DAs, J.-This appeal by the Special Land 
s. K. Das J. 
Acquisition Officer, Bangalore, has been 
brought 
to this Court on a certificate granted by the High 
Court of Mysore, and is from the decision of the said 
High Court dated October 5, 1953, in a regular appeal 
from an order made by the 2nd Additional District 
Judge, Bangalore, on September 18,
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