U.P. AVAS EVAM VIKAS PARISHADversusSHEO NARAIN KUSHWAHA & ORS.

                    [2011] ·5 $.C.R.. 869


           U.P. AVAS EVAM VIKAS PARISHAD                      A
                             v.
           SHEO NARAIN KUSHWAHA & ORS.
             (Civil Appeal No. 3615 of. ~01.1)
    ..                APRIL.25, 2011
                                                .'            B
     [R.V. RAVEENDRAN AND A.K. PATNAIK, JJ.]

      Land Acquisition Act, 1894 :.... s. · 54 ~ Appeal under ,-
Acquisition of certain' lands of respondent for benefit of
appellant - Compensation of Rs. 10, 2501- per bigha awarded C
by the Land Acquisition Collector, enhanced to Rs. 1, 10,250
per bigha by the Reference ·Court~ Appeal u/s. 54. - Division
Bench of the High Court upholding the award of Rs. 1, 10, 250/
- per bigha as compensation dismissed the appeal summarily
by a non-speaking order - On appeal, held: Under s. 54, a
party aggrieved by the award of the Reference Court is entitled
to file an appeal against the award of the Reference Court as
of right - Such appeals which mostly relate to the correctness
of the quantum of compensation or apportionment, raise both
questions of facts as well as questions of Jaw - Provisions of
Or. ·41 CPC are made applicable to such appeals -Thus, if
the High Court wants to dismiss an appeal summarily without
issuing notice, it should assign brief reasons, though not
required to render a 'brief judgment' - On facts, on the basis
of the rate of Rs.45 per sq.yd. awarded by the Reference
Court, the price of a bigha comprising 2250 sq.yds., would be
Rs.1,01,250 and not Rs.1, 10,250 - Thus, there is an error
apparent on the face of the award of the Reference Court -
Also, several other appeals relating to the same notification, .
against similar fixation of market value by the Reference
Court were already admitted by the High Court - Thus, the
appeal raised sufficient grounds which require to be dealt with
and decided by the High Court on merits - Matter is remitted
to the High Court for disposal of the appeal on merits - Code
of Civil Procedure, 1908 - Or. 41 r. 11.
                            869
    870      SUPREME COURT REPORTS              (2011) 5 S.C.R.


A        Land acquisition - Measurement of land area - Units of
    measurement - Held: A 'bigha' as a unit of measurement
    varies in extent in different parts of India - In public
    documents, deeds of conveyance and judicial orders, it is
    advisable to use units of measurement which have the same
B   meaning in all parts of the country - Description by standard
    units of measurement would be the solution.

        Judgment/Order: 'Summary decision' - Held: Is a
    decision which is short and quick and not elaborate but that
    does not mean 'non-reasoned dismissal.
c
         Hari Shanker vs. Rao Girdhari Lal Chowdhury AIR 1963
    SC 698; Kiranmal Zumerlal Borana Marwadi vs. Dnyanoba
    Bajirao Khot 1983 (4) SCC 223; Jayanmti De vs. Abani Kanta
    Barat AIR 2000 SC 3578 - referred to.
D
        The Advanced Law Lexicon by P. Ramanatha Iyer 3rd
    Edn, Vol.1 p 528 - referred to.

                         Case Law Reference:

E         AIR 1963 SC 698        Referred to          Para 3

          1983 (4) sec 223       Referred to          Para 8

          AIR 2000 SC 3578       Referred to          Para 8

F       CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No.
    3615 of 2011.

        From the Judgment & Order dated 20.12.2005 of the High
    Court of Judicature at Allahabad in First Appeal No.. 390 of
    2005.
G
         Vishwajit Singh, Ritesh Agrawal, Abhindra Maheswari for
    the Appellant.

      Dr. Madan Sharma, Vijay Kumar Pandita, J.P. Tripathi,
  Asha Upadhyay, R.D. Upadhyay, Sanjay Visen, Ashutosh Kr.
H Sharma, Gunnam Venkateswara Rao for the Respondents.
      U.P. AVAS EVAM VIKAS PARISHAD v. SHEO                      871
                 NARAIN KUSHWAHA
      The Order of the Court was delivered by                            A
                             ORDER
      R.V. RAVEENDRAN, J. 1. Leave granted. Heard.
        2. The appellant, for whose benefit certain lands (including     B
  the land of respondents) at village Daulatpur, District Kanpur
  were acquired, filed an appeal before the Allabahad High Court
  challenging the judgment of the Reference Court which
  increased the compensation for the acquired land of
  respondents from Rs.10,250/- per bigha to Rs.1,10,250/- per            c
  bigha. The said appeal has been dismissed summarily by a
  division bench of the Allahabad High Court, by the impugned
  non-speaking order dated 20.12.2005 upholding the award of
. Rs.1, 10,250/- per bigha as compensation. The High Court has
  stated that it was doing so, in exercise of the power under Order      0
  41 Rule 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure ('Code' for short).
  The said order is challenged in this appeal by special leave.

      3. The appeal in question was filed under section 54 of
 the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short ·LA Act') which
 provides that an appeal shall lie in any proceedings under that         E
 Act, to the High Court from the award of the Reference Court,
 subject to the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure,
 applicable to appeals from original decrees. An appeal is a
 proceeding where a higher forum reconsiders the decision of
 a lower forum, on questions of fact and/or questions of law, with       F
 power to confirm, reverse, modify the decision or remand the
 matter to the lower forum for fresh decision. In Hari Shanker
 vs. Rao Girdhari Lal Chowdhury (AIR 1963 SC 698) this court
 held:
                                                                         G
      " .... A right of appeal carries with it a right of rehearing on
      law as well as fact, unless the statute conferring the right
      of appeal limits the rehearing in some way as, we find, has
      been done is second appeals arising under the Code of
      Civil Procedure."
                                                                         H
    872          SUPREME COURT REPORTS               [2011) 5 S.C.R.


A      4. Section 96 of the Code provides that save where
  otherwise expressly provided in the body of the Code or by any
  other law for the time being in force, an appeal shall lie from
  every decree passed by any court exercising original
  jurisdiction to the court authorized to hear appeals from the
B decisions of such court. Order 41 of the Code regulates
  appeals from original decrees. Rule 11 of Order 41 relates to
  power to dismiss appeals without sending notice to tower court
  and sub-rules (1) and (4) thereof, relevant for our purpose, are
  extracted below :
c         "11. Power to dismiss appeal without sending notice to
          Lower Court.-

          (1) The Appellate Court after fixing a day for hearing the
          appellant or his pleader and hearing him accordingly if he
D         appears on that day, may dismiss the appeal.
          )()()()()()()()


         (4) Where an Appellate Court, not being the High Court,
         dismisses an appeal under sub-rule (1), it shall deliver a
E      · judgment, recording in brief its grounds for doing so, and
         a decree shall be drawn up in accordance with the
         judgment."

        5. It is evident from sub-rule (1) that an appellate court can
F dismiss an appeal after a preliminary hearing without calling
  for the records of the trial court and without issuing notice to
  the respondent, if it is satisfied that the appeal has no merit.
  Sub-rule (1) does not however state that such dismissal can
  be without assigning any reasons.
G      6. Sub-rule (4) provides that where the appellate court, not
  being the High Court, dismisses an appeal under sub-rule (1 ),
  it shall deliver a judgment recording in brief, its grounds for
  doing so. Sub-rule (4) by implication therefore provides that if
  the appellate court is the High Court, and it chooses to dismiss
H a first appeal at the stage of preliminary hearing, without
   :iU/~. P;,VAS EVAM VIKAS PARISHAD v. .SHEO                873
  ' NARAIN KLJSHWAHA [R.V. RAVEENDRAN, J.]
issuing notice to the respondent and without calling for records, A
it need not deliver a formal brief judgment as is required by
other appellate fora. A 'judgment', even a brief one, which is.
required to be rendered by appellate courts other than High
Courts, should necessarily refer to the pleadings, nature of
relief, the points for consideration and the decision thereon. But B
sub-rule (4) does not say that if the appellate court which
dismisses the appeal is the High Court, no reasons be
assigr.ed for dismissing the appeal. Sub-Rule (4) of Rule 11
does not enable the High Court to dismiss first appeals by one
line orders to the effect that 'appeal is dismissed' or by non- c
speaking orders. The order of the High Court dismissing the
first appeal should be sufficiently reasoned to disclose the
application of mind to the grounds of appeal and make out that
the High Court was resorting to dismissal in limine as it found
the appeal either to be vexatious or wholly without merit. Order
                                                                   0
41 Rule 11 o"f the Code, while relieving the High Court from the
obligation to write a 'judgment', does not dispense with the
obligation to assign reasons in brief, when summarily dismissing
the appeal.

   · 7. Unless the order is reasoned, there will be no way of       E
knowing whether the appellate court has examined the appeal
before deciding that it did not deserve admission. As a limited
right to appeal to Supreme Court is available against the
appellate judgments of the High Court, unless there are reasons
in the order of dismissal, it will not be possible for the Supreme F
Court to examine whether the High Court has rightly rejected
the appeal. The appellant who has filed the first appeal in
pursuance of a statutory right to file such appeal, paying
necessary co~rt fee, can legitimately expect reappreciation of
the evid7nce Jand re-determination of the questions raised, G
unless µle st~tute providing for the appeal provides otherwise;·

     8. This c~urt has repeatedly pointed out that any dismissal
of an first app~al even at the preliminary hearing stage,· should
be supported by brief reasons. In Kiranma/ Zumerlal Borana
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    874       SUPREME COURT REPORTS                    [2011] 5 S.C.R.

A Marwadi vs. Dnyanoba Bajirao Khot - [1983 (4) SCC 223] this
  court observed : "As numerous points both of law and facts
  appear to have been raised in the appeal, which again were
  sought to be canvassed before us, in fairness to the parties and
  to us, some reasons ought to have appeared in the judgment
B indicating what appealed to the High Court to be in entire
  agreement with the learned trial Judge. Let it be remembered
  that it was the first appeal against the decision of the trial Court
  and therein the appellant can and has raised serious questions
  of law and disputed decision on facts. We, therefore, think that
c this is pre-eminently a fit case which ought to have been
  admitted and disposed of on merits."

       · In Jayanmti De vs. Abani Kanta Barat - AIR 2000 SC
    3578, this Court observed thus :

D         "We are not satisfied that the High Court has considered
          the appeal on merits. Even if the dismissal is under Order
          41 Rule 11 and the High Court is not required under Sub-
          rule (4) to record in brief its grounds for doing so, it is not
          a carte blanche to enable the appellate court to avoid
E         recording any reason whatsoever. We think that the appeal
          required consideration on merits. We, therefore, set aside
          the impugned order and remit the appeal to the High Court
          for disposal of the same on merits and in accordance with
          law by stating the reasons."
F      9. Under section 54 of the LA Act, a party aggrieved by
  the award of the Reference Court is entitled to file an appeal
  against the award of the Reference Court as of right. Such
  appeals which mostly relate to the correctness of the quantum
  of compensation or apportionment, raise both questions of facts
G as well as questions of law. The provisions of Order 41 of the
  Code are made applicable to such appeals. The High Court,
  should therefore, if it wants to dismiss an appeal summarily
  without issuing notice, ass!gn brief reasons, thol;!gh not required
  to render a 'brief judgment'. Subject to the requirements and
H limitations placed by the statute providing for the appeals,
    U.P. AVAS EVAM VIKAS PARISHAD v. SHEO                  , 875
    NARAIN KUSHWAHA [R.V. RAVEENDRAN, J.]
appeals may be disposed of summarily, where so provided.             A
·summary decision' refers to a decision which is short and quick
and not elaborate. But it does not mean ·non-reasoned
dismissal', as any order appealable in law has to be reasoned.
A dismissal in limine refers to dismissal at the outset. Summary
dismissaf or dismissal in limine does not refer to a dismissal       s
without ass-igning reasons.

     1O. In this case the Land Acquisition Collector has
awarded Rs.10,250 per bigha. The Reference Court awarded
Rs.1, 10,250 per big ha. The Reference Court stated' that one -
bigha is equivalent to 2250 sq.yds. and it was awarding Rs.45/ C
- per sq.yd. On that basis, that is at the rate of Rs.45 per sq.yd.
the price of a bigha comprising 2225 sq.yds. would be
Rs.1,01,250 and not Rs.1, 10,250. Thus even without a detailed
examination, there is an error apparent on the face of the award
of the Reference Court. The. other grounds raised by the D
appellant also deserved examination and consideration,
particularly having regard to the fact that several other appeals
relating to the same notification, against similar fixation of
market value by the Reference Court were already admitted by
the High Court and pending consideration.                           E

      11. We may refer to another unconnected but relevant
aspect relating to the use of locally prevalent units of
measurement. A 'bigha' as a unit of measurement varies in
extent in different parts of India. The Advanced Law Lexicon         F
(P. Ramanatha Iyer: 3rd Edition, Vol.1; page 528) states that
in upper India, one bigha refers to 3025 sq.yd. of land, whereas
in Bengal, it is equal to 1600 sq.yd. We are informed in Delhi
and Punjab, a Bigha equals 1008 sq.yd. The Reference Court
states that a bigha is equal to 2250 sq.yds. In public documents,
deeds of conveyance and judicial orders, it is advisable to use      G
units of measurement which have the same meaning in all parts
of the country. For example, the term · gunta' is prevalently used
to refer to one-fortieth of an acre in Maharashtra, Karnataka and
Andhra Pradesh. But the word refers to the same extent of
                                                                     H
    876      SUPREME COURT REPORTS                     [2011] 5 S.C.R.


A   measurement in all states. On the other hand, a word like
    'Bigha', describing a unit of measurement which refers to
    different extents in different states, or different parts of the same
    state, should be avoided. De~cription by standard units of
    measurement will be the solution. Be that as it may.
B
       12. We are of the view that the appeal filed by the appellant ·
  raised sufficient grounds which require to be dealt with and
  decided by the High Court on merits. We therefore allow this
  appeal, set aside the judgment of the High Court and remand
C th~ matter to the High Court for disposal of the appeal on merits.

    N.J.                                              Appeal allowed.