RFA No. 3036 of 2011 (1) IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH RFA No. 3036 of 2011 (O&M) Date of decision : 26.5.2011 State of Haryana and another ...Appellants vs Brij Mohan and others ...Respondents Coram : Hon'ble Mr. Justice Rajesh Bindal Present: Mr. D. D. Gupta, Additional Advocate General, Haryana. Rajesh Bindal, J. This order shall dispose of appeals bearing RFA Nos. 3036 to 3043 of 2011, as common questions of law and facts are involved in these appeals. By filing appeals, State of Haryana is seeking reduction of compensation awarded to the landowners for the acquired land. The bunch of appeals pertain to the valuation of land acquired for construction of Parallel Channel along Sadeva Distributory from RD 0-56205 out falling at RD 37285-L Ghaggar-Bani-Sadeva-M.M.K.Link Channel for which notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short 'the Act') was issued by the State of Haryana on 25.10.2006. The land is situated within the revenue estate of village Mehnakhera, Tehsil Rania, District Sirsa. Notification under Section 6 of the Act was issued on 15.1.2007. The Land Acquisition Collector (for short 'the Collector') vide award dated 24.8.2007 assessed the market value of the acquired land @ ` 8,00,000/- per acre. The land owners being dissatisfied with the award of the Collector filed objections which were referred to the learned Court below. On reference under Section 18 of the Act, the learned Court below assessed the compensation of the acquired land @ ` 8,50,000/- per acre. Aggrieved against the award of the learned court below, the State is in appeal before this court. RFA No. 3036 of 2011 (2) Learned counsel for the State submitted that the court below had not given any reasoning whatsoever while determining the amount of compensation payable for the acquired land. The evidence led by the State was totally ignored. He further argued that the value of the land of each area is different keeping in view the location and other advantages. But in the present case, the learned court below without there being any reason enhanced the compensation for the acquired land. It had merely applied a thumb rule. It is due to the policy of the State Government that the value of the land was determined @ ` 8,00,000/- per acre by the Collector, otherwise the value of the land in the area was not as has been awarded by the learned court below. Heard learned counsel State and perused the relevant referred record. There is no dispute that Government had issued policy dated 6.4.2007 fixing minimum rates for awarding compensation for the acquired land. As per the policy of the State Government dated 6.4.2007, the minimum rates were fixed @ ` 8,00,000/- per acre in the area in question. This rate was applicable on all those acquisitions where awards have been announced by the Collector on or after 22.3.2007 irrespective of the date of notification under Section 4 of the Act. The relevant extract of policy dated 6.4.2007, is as under:- "Sub: Fixation of floor rates for the acquisition of land for public purpose in the State of Haryana. Ref: This Department Memo No. 2025-R-5-2005/4299, dated 28.4.2005. Vide this Department Memo. under reference, minimum floor rates for acquiring land for public purposes for various Departments as well as other State Agencies were fixed by the Haryana Government as follows: i) Minimum floor rate for urbanisable area of Gurgaon. Rs. 15.00 lacs per acre ii) Minimum floor rate for rest of the Haryana Sub-Region of NCR inlcuding Panchkula and area of Chandigarh periphery in the Haryana State. Rs.12.50 lacs per acre. iii) Minimum floor rate for the rest of the Haryana State. Rs. 05.00 lacs per acre. RFA No. 3036 of 2011 (3) (These floor rates did not include the solatium and interest payable under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894). 2. Now it has been observed that with the passage of time market rates of the land have increased substantially. Therefore, Haryana Government has re-considered this matter and has decided to re-fix these floor rates as follows: i) Minimum floor rate for urbanisable area of Gurgaon. Rs. 20.00 lacs per acre ii) Minimum floor rate for rest of the Haryana Sub-Region of NCR inlcuding Panchkula and area of Chandigarh periphery in the Haryana State. Rs.16.00 lacs per acre. iii) Minimum floor rate for the rest of the Haryana State. Rs. 08.00 lacs per acre. 3. These floor rates do not include the solatium and interest payable under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. 4. These revised rates will be applicable on all those acquisitions where awards have been announced on or after 22.3.2007 irrespective of the date of notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894." In the present case, the award was announced by the Collector on 24.8.2007 after about five month of the enforcement of policy dated 6.4.2007. The aforesaid policy letter, in my opinion, can be considered as a piece of evidence for the reason that the process to frame or revise a policy starts in advance, finalisation thereof takes time. Considering the fact that the award in the present case was announced on 24.8.2007 and the policy dated 6.4.2007 comes into operation from 22.3.2007, the value of the acquired land determined @ ` 8,50,000/- per acre cannot be faulted with. Accordingly, the appeals are dismissed. Consequently, all the accompanying applications are also dismissed. However, it is made clear that dismissal of appeals filed by the State will not affect the merits of the appeal of the landowners, in case filed by them. The same shall be considered independently. 26.5.2011 (Rajesh Bindal) vs. Judge