TMI Blog1966 (9) TMI 145X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 0-12-0 as compensation for the land and adding 15% solatium awarded the total sum of ₹ 2218/-. A reference was thereafter made under s. 18 at the instance of the appellant to the District Judge, Bijnor. Both the appellant and the Government led oral evidence and also adduced evidence of certain specimen of exemplar sales. Besides the oral evidence, the appellant relied on two sale deeds, one dated March 20, 1926 and another dated January 5, 1934. He also led the evidence of one Syed Nisar Haider Zaidi, a Deputy Collector who had just retired and who prior to his retirement had written two letters to the appellant dated October 14, 1945 and November 20, 1945 expressing his desire to purchase the land in question with a view to build a residential house for himself so that he could live therein after his retirement. In these letters he had offered ₹ 18,000/- but that offer was not accepted by the appellant as he wanted ₹ 24,000/as the price of the land. On behalf of the Government also reliance was placed on three specimen sales being Exhibits Al, A2' and A3. The evidence disclosed that the land acquired was at a distance of about 2 furlongs from the town Nehtau ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... um at 15%. he awarded ₹ 22,700/- as compensation. He also held that the appellant was entitled to interest under s. 28 but allowed interest at 3 % per annum observing that since the acquisition was for an educational institution, interest at that rate was proper. Against the said judgment and order the Government filed an appeal before the High Court at Allahabad and the appellant also filed his cross-objections. As already stated the High Court agreed with the District Judge that the evidence of specimen sales was of no assistance. But regarding the evidence of witness Zaidi it commented as follows :- It is not possible for us to say as to whether the approach made by Syed Nisar Haider Zaidi was a genuine one or not; but even if we take it to have been a genuine approach there can be no doubt that the price that he was going to offer was a price which he fixed because of the peculiar circumstances in which he was placed the circumstances having been that he was, upon retirement, desirous of going back to his native place and to take up residence there and to build a house outside the populated area. The price which such an exceptional purchaser is going to offer will ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ion of the vendor that enters the market value, but the objective factor namely , whether the said potentiality can be turned to account within a reasonably near future...... The question therefore turns upon the facts of each case. In the context of building potentiality many questions will have to be asked and answered : whether there is pressure on the land for building activity, whether the acquired land is suitable for building purposes, whether the extension of the said activity is towards the land acquired, what is the pace of the progress and how far the said activity has extended and within what time, whether buildings have been put up on lands purchased for building purposes, what is the distance between the built-in-land and the land acquired and similar other questions will have to be answered. It is the overall picture drawn on the said relevant circumstances that affords the solution. It is clear that there is no evidence on record of any building activity of a substantial nature being carried on 'in the neighbourhood of the acquired land at about the time when the notification was issued in 1945. There is equally no evidence of any trend of development of the to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on behalf of the Government that his offer was not genuine or that it was irresponsible. What is more significant is that no suggestion was made in his cross- examination that the offer was excessive or that it was not bonafide or that he had made it without properly considering it or without regard to the situation and the suitability of the land. There was therefore no justification in the remark made by the High Court that it could not be said whether his offer was genuine or not. The District Judge accepted it as genuine and if the High Court did not agree with his assessment of his evidence it ought to have given reasons for such disagreement. It is impossible thus to treat the evidence of Zaidi either as unacceptable or irrelevant. The second criticism by the High Court of Zaidi's evidence that his offer was made in exceptional circumstances and therefore cannot be regarded as one of a willing prospective purchaser is also not correct. At the time when Zaidi made his offer he was about to retire. He wanted to retire in his native place and desired to have a house which would be situate outside the town. His offer was for a grove-land with plenty of trees some of which wer ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... owed interest at 6%. Mr. Karkhanis, on the other hand, argued that what section 28 does is to provide for a ceiling of the rate of interest. And even if that is not so, since the section confers discretion on the court to grant or not to grant interest that discretion impliedly means that even where the court grants interest it can do so at any rate up to 6%. The contention so put forward resolves itself into two questions : (1) whether in the absence of a specific objection as to interest in the appellant's cross-objections the High Court ought to have gone into that question and (2) whether on a proper interpretation of section 28 the Court has a discretion to grant interest at a rate less than 6 %. The first point would not create any difficulty in the way of the appellant because the High Court did in fact go into the question of interest even though it was not specifically taken in the cross-objections and decided the question also on interpretation of section 28. Besides, the question is purely one of law and as Lord Watson said in Connecticut Fire Insurance Co., v. Kavanagh(1). When a question of law is raised for the first time in a court of last resort upon the con ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... which provides that when the amount of compensation is neither paid nor deposited before taking possession of the acquired land the Collector shall pay the amount awarded with interest thereon at the rate of six per centum per annum etc. It is a well-settled rule of construction that where the legislature uses the same expression in the same statute at two places or more the same interpretation should be given to that expression unless the context requires otherwise. That being so, there is nothing wrong in permitting the appellant to raise the point as to the rate of interest as that question depends only upon the construction of section 28. In the view that we have taken as to the interpretation of section 28 Mr. Mishra must also succeed on this question. In the result, the appeal must be allowed and the judgment and order passed by the High Court set aside. The judgment and order of the District Judge by which he fixed the compensation at ₹ 20,700/- including solatium at the rate of 15 % is restored. But we direct that the interest on the excess amount of ₹ 18,482/should be paid to the appellant at the rate of six per cent per annum from July, 4, 1947 up to the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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