SH. ABDUL. RASHID, J. --- Through this petition the petitioner seeks issuance of a writ directing the respondent to act in accordance with law by proceeding under Section 16 of the Land Acquisition Act to take possession of acquired land for its onward delivery to the petitioner and to correct the Revenue Record by placing the petitioner society in column of Malkiyat rather than cultivation.
2. The facts leading to the institution of this petition are that the petitioner is a Cooperative Housing Society registered with the office of Circle' Registrar Cooperative Society, Lahore under Cooperative Laws with its registered office opposite Allama Iqbal International Airport, Defence Road, Lahore, having a housing colony on the land situated in Mauza- Had Bast Shevpura Kalan and Malikpur Tehsil Cantt., District Lahore. The respondent as Land Acquisition Collector vide award No. 3 of 1990 acquired the land measuring 2533 Kanals, 4 Marlas in Mauza Malikpur and Shevpura Kalan, Tehsil Cantt. District Lahore for the petitioner society based on the market sale price of the land prevailing at that time which the petitioner society deposited and in pursuance thereof the Mutations No. 261 and 814, dated 14.5.1991 for. Mauza Shevpura Kalan and Mauza Malikpur, Tehsil Cantt., District Lahore respectively were attested in favour of the petitioner society.
The possession of the acquired land was also delivered to the petitioner with exception of small portion of land as there was stay order regarding the possession of said land in the legal proceedings against the petitioner society initiated by land owners by invoking the Constitutional jurisdiction of this Court. Thereafter many writ petitions filed by the land owners were dismissed by this Court. Some orders, in the writ petitions, of this Court were assailed before the Hon'ble Supreme Court and were finally concluded vide judgment dated 2.7.2002 and the Hon'ble Supreme Court in C.P. Nos. 1812, 1852 to 1855-L of 2002 whereby the C.P.L.As. Filed by the land owners dismissed them with the following observations:--- "For the foregoing reasons the acquisition of land made by Housing Scheme prepared by the petitioner society is not violative of the law, therefore, the judgment impugned in these petitions in the High Court does not suffer from any illegality, resultantly all the petitions being meritless are hereby dismissed and leave refused."
3.. Since possession of the land which was subject of litigation could not be delivered to the petitioner society because of the pending stay orders which had since been vacated and presently no stay order on the subject land is in the field, therefore, the petitioner society now requires the respondent to proceed under Section 16 of Land Acquisition Act to take possession of the said land whose possession had not been delivered to the petitioner society and to deliver the same to the petitioner society.
4. The petitioner society further pleaded in that in the Mutations No. 261 and 814 mentioned above for some land measuring 352 Kanals, 15 Marlas situated in Mauza Shevpura Kalan, Tehsil Cantt.
District Lahore and land measuring 35 Kanals, 2 Marlas in Mauza Malikpur Tehsil Cantt. District Lahore, the name of the petitioner society had been placed in column in cultivation rather than column for Malkiyat and consequently the name of the petitioner society has figured in Jamabandis in column for cultivation instead' of column for Malkiyat whereas the petitioner society had deposited the market sale price/compensation worked out on the basis of sale transactions made in the estate of Malikpur and Shevpura Kalan during the relevant period as governed by Sections 23 and 24 of the Land Acquisition Act and the petitioner society having deposited the market sale price stipulated by award No. 3 of 1990 has become full owner of the land and is entitled for its entry in the column of Malkiyat instead of cultivation The petitioner society approached the respondent for correction of the Revenue Record according to the contents and spirit of award No. 3 of 1990. But having failed in its efforts to secure the desired correction in the Revenue Record it is constrained to invoke the Constitutional jurisdiction
5. It has been mainly argued on behalf of the petitioner society that after the deposit of entire award money by the petitioner society and no litigation of any kind remaining in the field the respondent is bound to proceed further under Section 16 of the Land Acquisition Act to take possession of the land whose possession had not so far been delivered to the petitioner society for its delivery to the petitioner society and that the award had _been worked out on the basis of the average market sale price of the land prevailing during the relevant period and the petitioner society had deposited the entire award money and consequently the Mutations No. 261 and 814 were, sanctioned but regarding some land measuring 352 Kanals, 15 Marlas in Mauza Shevpura and land measuring 35 Kanals, 2 Marlas in Mauza Malikpur Tehsil Cant, District Lahore the name of the petitioner society instead of being recorded in column of Malikiyat had been wrongly mentioned in column of cultivation and the said entry is violative of the award and needs to be corrected in accordance with law.
6. Learned Additional Advocate-General appearing on behalf of the respondent states that no one on behalf of the respondent has turned up to assist him in the proceedings. However, it is an admitted position that award No. 3 of 1990 was made for acquisition of land for the Housing Colony of the petitioner society on the payment of the sale price which the petitioner society had deposited and consequently Mutation No. 261, dated 14.5.1991 in respect of Mauza Shevpura Kanlan and Mutation No. 814, dated 14.5.1991 in respect of Mauza Malikpur Tehsil Cantt., District Lahore were sanctioned in compliance of letter No.., 12510/LAC, dated 27.5.1990 issued by the said respondent.
7. It is an admitted position that award No. 3 of 1990 was made for acquisition of land for the petitioner society in Mauza Shevpura Kalan and Malikpur situated in Tehsil Cantt., District Lahore and the petitioner society had deposited the entire sale price and consequently two mutations No. 261, dated 14.5.1991 in respect of Mauza Shevpura Kalan and 814, dated 14.5.1991 in respect of Mauza Malikpur, Tehsil Cantt., District Lahore were sanctioned in compliance of letter No. 12510/LAC, dated 27.5.1990 issued by the respondent. The copies of the award and mutation's have been placed on the file as Annexure-A, All and A/2. It is also admitted position on the file that possession of some of the land, which was subject of litigation, could not be delivered to the petitioner society. Now no litigation regarding the land which had been acquired for the petitioner society vide award No. 3 of 1990 is pending, therefore, the respondent is bound to proceed further under Section 16 of Land Acquisition Act to take its possession from the land holders for its depery to the petitioner society.
8. The perusal of the award No. 3 of.1990 reveals that compensation for the land owners and the persons having interest in the land had been worked out on the basis of the prevailing market sale price. Part (iv) of the award made by Ch. Babar Shafi, General Assistant to Deputy Commissioner/Land Acquisition Collector, Lahore which deals with assessment of the price of the land and as well as Part (x) of the said award in which conclusion had been stipulated are being reproduced for ready reference:- "PART-IV EVALUATION:
1. The law which governs the matter or price- assessm ent of land under acquisition is laid down in Sections 23 and 24 of the Act. I find from the acquisition file that the average sale price worked out on the basis of the sale transactions 'made in the estates of Malikpur and Shevpura during the relevant period came to Rs. 20,000/- per Kanal and-Rs. 5,412/- per kanal respectively. At the same time, the Tehsildar also reported that the market value-of the land in question was Rs. 18,000/- to Rs. 20,000/- per kanal in both the said villages. After thorough consideration of the factual position as well as the provision of Sections 23 and 24 of the Act, the Collector, Lahore District recommended the price of the land in question at Rs. 20,000/- per kanal in Case of Malkpur and Rs. 12,000/- per kanal in case of Shevpura, (Instead of Rs. 5,412/- per kanal, shoWn in the GOSHWARA AUST BAI YAKSALA, submitted by the Tehsildar concerned). The Collector forwirded this recommendation to the Commissioner, Lahore Division, for onward transmission to the Board of Revenue, vide his memo.. No. LAC/1068, dated. 22.3.1989. The Commissioner, Lahore Division, agreed with the recommendations and forwarded the case to the Board of Revenue for approval.
The Board of Revenue considered the matter in great detail and found that the period for the determination of the average price of land in question was taken as the 12 months preceding 23.2.1989, the date of a notification under Section 4 of the Act. The Board held that it was not legally correct, because considerable area was added to the land under acquisition vide Notification dated 6.4.1989, and therefore the earlier Notification dated 23.2.1998, stood superseded. It was therefore, held that the crucial period for determination of the average sale price, was the 12 months' period preceding 6.4.1989 (the date of the subsequent notification), and act 23.2.1989, and the case was remanded to the Commissioner, Lahore Division, vide memo. No. 6124-89/236-S.IV, dated 26.10.1989, with the direction that "the cost of land may be got re -assessed ................ Keeping in view the sale transactions taking place during the 12 months' period preceding 6.4.1989, i.e. The date of publication of the Corrigendum Notification,." A copy of the said memorandum was sent by the Secretary (Settlement), Board of Revenue, Punjab to the Deputy Commissioner, Lahore, for information and necessary action vide endorsement 6124-89/237-S.IV, dated 26.10.1989.
3. The Deputy Commissioner/Collector, Lahore District, caused average price to be worked out on the basis of sale transactions during the period 7.4.1988 to 6.4.1989, as directed by the, Board of Revenue, and sent his findings to the Commissioner vide his Memo. No. LAC/2768, dated 7.12.1989. He assessed the land in village Malikpur at Rs.
28,000/- per Kanal plus 25% compulsory acquisition charges, and the land in village Shevpura at Rs. 28,087/- per kanal plus 25% compulsory acquisition charges. The basis of this re-assessment was not the average sale price in the area, but the price paid by the said Society for purchase of some land there. The Commissioner, Lahore Division, therefore, sent back the case to the Collector requesting him to reconsider the. matter. Consequently, the Collector reconsidered the matter but maintained the price as earlier.
However, he made two further points as follows:---
(1) During the scrutiny of the Revenue Record it had been noticed that the land measuring 345 Kanals, 03 Marlas in Mauza Shevpura belongs to the Central Government, had been erroneously included in the land under acquisition, and therefore, the same area had to be excluded by means of. Corrigendum Notification.
(2) That 10 Kanals, 02 marlas in village Malikpur and 88 kanals, 05 marlas in village Shevpura situated on the main Defence Road had to be assessed separately at Rs. 50,000/- per kanal.
The Commissioner, Lahore Division, agreed that the land measuring 345 kanals, 03 marlas situated in village Shevpura belonged to the Central Government, and must be excluded from the land under acquisition. He, however, disagreed with the basis on which the Collector had re-estimated the cost of the land under acquisition and sent the matter with his on recommendations to the Board of Revenue, Punjab, Lahore vide his memo. No. RI/LA1243/406, dated 10.2.1990.
5. Finally, the Board of Revenue, Punjab, Lahore, vide memo. No. 499-90/947/S.IV, dated 17.3.1990, was pleased to approve the estimated cost amounting to Rs. 9,23,75,493/19 as follow:---
(1) Village Malikpur at Rs. 22,084/- per kanal plus 25% compulsory acquisition charges, and
(2) Village Shevpura at Rs. 24,671/- per kanal plus 25% compulsory acquisition charges.
The net result of all the notifications published to-date is that a total area of 2,533 kanals and 04 marlas of land (out of which 1,491 is situated in Mauza Malikpur, and 1,042 Kanals and 04 Marlas in Mauza Shevpura, Tehsil Lahore Cantt.) has been acquired under the Act, for the said Society, and the estimated cost finally approved by the Board of Revenue for the said land came to Rs.
73,299.210/-. As noticed in para (5) of Part I hereof, the Society had already placed at the disposal of the Land Acquisition Collector, Lahore, a sum of Rs. 68,431,000/- by 19.8.1989. This left balance of Rs. 4,868,201/- payable by the Society, which was paid by the. Society to the Collector by means of two Pay Orders as under:---
(a) PPOBL P.O. No. 098293, dated 18.4.1990Rs. 4,000,000 00
(b) ABL P.O. No. 570444, dated 11.4.1990Rs. 868,201.000 Total: Rs. 4,868,201.00 8 Having given my most objective consideration to all the relevant factors, namely; the provisions of Sections 23 and 24 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, the average sale price during the relevant period, the sale price prevailing in the locality on the date of publication of the Notification under Section 4 of the Act, and also keeping in view the fact that not a single land-owner/interested person had agitated against the estimated price before the Enquiry Officer appointed under Section 40 of the Act (which price was far lower than the prices finally approved by the Board of Revenue). I see no reason to differ from the estimated cost of land in question approved by the Board of Revenue, Punjab, Lahore the Commissioner, and the Board of Revenue, more than once. I, therefore, hereby awarded Rs. 22,084/- per kanal in respect of the land situated in village Malikpur, Tehsil Lahore Cantt. And Rs. 24,671/- per kanal in respect of land, situated in village Shevpura, Tehsil Lahore Cantt. Acquired for the establishment of a housing colony for the members of the Lahore Cantt. Park View Cooperative Housing Society Limited, Lahore, registered No. 1274, dated 27.11.1987.
In addition to that, the landowners/interested persons would be paid 25% of the cost of land worked out at the above rates, on account of compulsory acquisition charges. Accordingly, the amount awarded as compensation to the landowners/interested persons is as under:-
(1) Cost of land measuring 1,491 kanals situated in village Malikpur , Tehsil Lahore Cantt. @ Rs.22.084 per kanal Rs. 32,927,244.00 (1-A) 25% compulsory acquisition charges Rs.8,231,81 1.00 Total: Rs. 41,159,055.00
(2) Cost of land measuring 1,042 kanals,04 marlas in village Shevpura,T ehsil Lahore Cantt. @ Rs.
24,671 per kanal.Rs. 25,712,1 16,00 (2-A)25% compulsory acquisition charges Rs. 6,428,030.00 Total: Rs. 32,140,146.00 Grand Total: Rs. 73,299,201.00 (Rupees Seventy-three Million, Two Hundred and Ninety-nine Thousand, Two hundred and one only).
Compensation for any tree and/or crops standing on the land shall be separately awarded by the undersigned by means of a supplementary award, in the light of the report to be submitted by the Halqa Patwari."
"PART-X: CONCLUSION: The land measuring 1,491 Kanals situated in village Malkpur, Tehsil Lahore Cantt., as specified hereinbefore, and the land measuring 1,042, Kanals and 04 Marlas situated in village Shevpura, Tehsil Lahore Cantt., as specified hereinbefore, is hereby acquired for the establishment of a Housing Colony for the members of the Lahore Cantt. Park View Cooperative Housing Society Limited, Lahore Cantt. Registered No. 1274, dated 27.11.1987, in Lahore District, and the same shall stand transferred to the said acquiring society free from all encumbrances."
9. It is thus obvious from Parts (iv) and (x) of award No. 3 of 1990 that the petitioner society has acquired the land stipulated in the award on the basis of the market sale price has paid the same alongwith with 25 per cent compulsory charges for acquisition proceedings and the suit land now stand vested in the petitioner society free from all encumbrances. The Mutations No. 261 in respect of land measuring 352 Kanals, 15 Marlas situated in Mauza Shevpura Kalan and 814 in respect of land measuring 35 Kanals, 2 ,Marlas situated in Mauza Malikpur Tehsil Cantt., District Lahore were sanctioned in pursuance of the said award and as such in the Revenue Record the name of the petitioner society was to be mentioned as a complete owner in column of Malkiyat. After the deposit of the entire sale price of the acquired land by virtue of the award No. 3 of 1990 the petitioner society has become complete owner of the land which is subject of the award, therefore, petitioner society is legally entitled to have its name recorded in column of Malkiyat instead of cultivation.
10. In view of the above discussion this petition is allowed and the respondent is directed to proceed under Section 16 of the Land Acquisition Act to take the possession of the acquired land of which possession could not be delivered to the petitioner society earlier because of litigation and to deliver its possession to the petitioner society. The respondent is further directed to effect the - necessary changes in the Revenue Record of the acquired land (measuring 352 Kanals, 15 Marlas situated in Mauza Shevpura Kalan and land measuring 35 Kanals, 2 Marlas situated in Mauza Malikpur, Tehsil Cantt., District Lahore, by placing its name in column for Malkiyat instead of column for cultivation as the petitioner society has become absolute owner of the entire acquisitioned land free from all encumbrances after the payment of market sale price of the land stipulated in award No. 3 of 1990.