' ABAID ULLAH KHAN, J.-- This appeal against the judgment of the learned Senior Civil Judge, Lyallpur (now Faisalabad), dated the 23rd October, 1970, deciding the appellants' application for enhancement of amount of compensation awarded by the Collector for the acquisition of 4 acres 6 Kanals 15 marlas of land situate in the area of Chak No. 222/RB, tahsil and district Faisalabad, arises out of the following circumstances. The Provincial Government issued notification of its intention to acquire the land in question under section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, on the 11th February, 1955. The appellants, who owned the land, put forth claim for compensation at the rate of Rs.800 per marla, that is, Rs.1,28,000 per acre, before the Collector who determined compensation at the rate of Rs.2,000 per acre vide his award of the 31st August, 1956.
' The learned Senior Civil Judge did not feel inclined to increase the rate of compensation though he directed the Government to pay 15 per cent of the market value of the disputed land in consideration of the compulsory nature of the acquisition which the Collector had declined to allow.
2. The learned counsel for the appellants banked upon the prices of lands entered in the mutations whose copies they had produced before and which had not been taken into consideration by the Collector because they pertained to sales of lands lying in the estates other than that of Chak No. 222/RB. The Collector assessed the market value on the basis of the average of the prices which the sales of lands of Chak No.222/RB had fetched during 1951 to 1954. The Collector no doubt noticed that the prices in 1955 had gone up due to the fact that the people were converting their land to residential sites on account of rapid expansion of Lyallpur town. The learned Senior Civil Judge practically endorsed the award of the Collector.
3. The learned counsel for the appellants has drawn our attention to the fact that the Collector had paid compensation in respect of the crop of lady-fingers covering an area of 8 Kanals of land at the rate of Rs 100.00 per Kanal and for sugarcane standing on 4 Kanals of land he had given compensation at the rate of Rs.150 per Kanal. He submitted that when the produce of single crop of land was found to be worth Rs 100.00/150.00 per Kanal the determination of market value of the land at the rate of Rs.250 per Kanal was simply irrational and unreasonable. The argument of the learned counsel is not without force and the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent could not enter successful caveate to it.
4. The land when acquired abutted the municipal limits of Lyallpur and was at a distance of about two miles from the centre (Clock Tower) of the city. It was acquired for constructing link road running through Satellite Town. Our attention has been drawn to the cases of other pieces of land lying in the area of Chak No.314/RB situate at a distance of three and a half miles from the heart of Lyallpur and in respect of whose acquisition notification under section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, was issued on the 1st December, 1954. The said land being farther away from the city than the land in dispute its market value could favourably be compared with that of the land in question. As a matter of fact the dispute land being closer to the city than the land of Chak No. 314/RB, would normally fetch more price. The Land Acquisition Collector worked out the market value of the acquired land of Chak No. 314/RB at the rate of Rs.16,245 per acre and the same was endorsed by the learned Court of the Senior Civil Judge as also by this Court in RFA 73 of 1969 and RFA 54 of 1970.
There is no appreciable difference between the land of Chak No. 314/RB and the land in dispute.
Therefore, we feel that the market Value of the disputed land should not be dissimilar to the one of Chak No. 314/RB.
5. We think that with the award of ridiculously low amount of compensation (Rs 250.00 per Kanal) vis-a-vis considerably greater amount (Rs.2,031 per Kanal) given to the landowners of Chak No. 314/RB, the appellants have been unjustly discriminated against. There is no reason why the land in question, which was bearing cash crops like sugarcane and vegetables, should not be treated at par, if not at the higher pedestal, with the land of Chak No. 314/RB. Consequently we hold that the market value of the land in question for purpose of paying compensation to the appellants would be at the rate of Rs.16,245 per acre. We accept this appeal and direct that increased compensation worked out at the rate of Rs.16,245 per acre in respect of the land in dispute will be paid to the appellants. The amount of compensation for trees and standing crops determined by the Collector will be in addition thereto. The appellants will also be paid 15 per cent of the aforesaid total amount of compensation for compulsory acquisition. The parties are left to bear their own costs.