1978 INSC 0373
                                            Smt. Vidyawati and Others

                                                           Vs

                                           Collector of Agra and Others

                                          Civil Appeal No. 1077 of 1978

                               (V. R. Krishna Iyer, D. A. Desai, A.D. Koshal JJ)

                                                      05.12.1978

                                                     JUDGMENT

KRISHNA IYER, J. -

1. The only point in this appeal which relates to compensation for land acquisition is as to
whether the entire amount refixed by way of enhancement by the High Court should go to the
landlady appellant only, or should be shared between her and the tenants such as have proved their
claims before the Land Acquisition Officer. (The Wakf Board does not come into the picture as its
appeal has been dismissed.)

2. The brief facts are that the Land Acquisition Officer fixed compensation at a certain rate for the
land acquired but he also apportioned the amount of compensation between the landlady, the owner,
and the tenants on the land. Thereafter a reference under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act led
to an increase in the rate of compensation. But the learned District Judge made a further direction
that the entire compensation so raised would be paid to the landlady forgetting the fact that the
tenants who had been recognised also had been found entitled to a share.

3. The Collector filed an appeal to the High Court asking for the deletion of this direction for the
payment of the entire sum to the landlady. The High Court, while enhancing the compensation
substantially in favour of the land owner, deleted the direction made by the district court to the
effect that the entire compensation shall be paid over to the landlady. We think this was done very
rightly. There is no doubt that apportionment does not come into the picture in a reference under
Section 18. Factually, there is no doubt that there are some tenants on the land. In this view, the
direction given by the High Court that the entire amount shall not be payable to the landlady and
that the direction given by the district court to that effect shall be deleted was just and legal.

4. To do final justice in terms of the law and in the circumstances of this case, we direct that the
Collector shall pay to the land owner only the share that is due to her out of the total compensation
and shall further proceed to determine the share due to the tenants such as were on the land on the
date of the notification, and pay to them their share of the compensation in accordance with what is
due to them. With these directions, the appeal is dismissed with no order as to costs.

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