Land Acquisition] Reference To Market Value Of Small Plots Not Always Reliable, But May Be Referred In Absence Of Other Material: Jammu & Kashmir HC

The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has ruled that in determining the market value of a large piece of land proposed for acquisition, it may not be safe to rely solely on the rate at which small parcels of land adjacent to it are sold.
However, the court reiterated that this cannot be an absolute rule as in cases where there is no other material available, the court may compare prices paid for small plots of land to arrive at a fair market value and this approach should not be dismissed outright.
A single bench of Justice Sanjay Dhar observed,
“In a case where there is no other material available to assess the market value of acquired land at the relevant time, a cue can be taken by the adjudicating Court from the sale transactions of small parcels of land in the vicinity of the acquired land after making appropriate deductions while assessing the market value of the said land.”
The Court was hearing an appeal preferred by Centre against the judgment of a District Court in a reference under Section 18 of the State Land Acquisition Act, 1990. Through the impugned judgment, compensation in respect of acquired land was enhanced.
Centre assailed the judgment on the ground that the District Judge relied upon the sale transactions pertaining to the years 1983, 1988 and 1991 in respect of small patches of land which is not permissible in law. The price of small developed piece of land is not determinative of the price of large chunk of land and this principle has been totally ignored by the District Judge, it was argued.
Adjudicating upon the matter, Justice Dhar noted that no sale transactions were reported in the area in last three years. Thus the question before it was whether sale transactions from the years 1983, 1988 and 1991 could be a determinative factor for assessing the market value of the acquired land.