Additional evidence on land location and valuation must be admitted, with fresh adjudication and fair opportunity to the assessee.

Additional evidence relating to the location and valuation of agricultural land was treated as material to the core factual dispute, and land revenue records were identified as the proper evidence for determining the land's distance from notified limits. The appellate authority was required to give the assessee a fair opportunity to place the valuation report in proper form, and any challenge to valuation had to be examined through appropriate enquiry rather than summarily rejected. The matter was therefore remitted for fresh adjudication in accordance with law, with reference to the DVO if necessary, after granting a reasonable hearing.

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Issues: Whether the assessee was entitled to admission of additional evidence relating to the location and valuation of the agricultural land, and whether the matter required remand for fresh consideration, including reference to the DVO if necessary.

Analysis: The dispute turned on the exact location of the land, its distance from the notified limits, and the correct valuation as on 01.04.1981. The evidence regarding location was held to be crucial and could not be rejected merely as an afterthought; land revenue records were treated as the proper material for resolving the factual controversy. The valuation report filed before the appellate authority was also treated as relevant additional evidence, and the assessee should have been afforded a fair opportunity to place the material in proper form. If the valuation was to be disturbed, the matter ought to have been examined through appropriate enquiry, including a reference to the DVO, rather than being decided arbitrarily.

Conclusion: The additional evidence was directed to be admitted and the issues in dispute were remitted to the appellate authority for fresh adjudication in accordance with law after giving the assessee a reasonable opportunity of hearing.

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