RFA No. 433 of 1994 (O&M) (1) In the High Court of Punjab & Haryana at Chandigarh Date of decision: 8.5.2009 1. RFA No. 433 of 1994 (O&M) Sahib Din and others ..... Appellants vs The State of Haryana ..... Respondent 2. RFA No. 434 of 1994 (O&M) Fazal Din and others ..... Appellants vs The State of Haryana ..... Respondent Coram: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Rajesh Bindal Present: Mr. Bhag Singh, Advocate, for the appellants. Mr. Lokesh Sinhal, Additional Advocate General, Haryana. Rajesh Bindal J. This order shall dispose of above mentioned two appeals, as common questions of law and facts are involved. The facts have been noticed from RFA No. 433 of 1994. The landowners have filed the present appeals before this court against the award of the learned court below passed under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, 'the Act') seeking enhancement of compensation for the acquired land. Briefly, the facts of the case are that the State of Haryana, vide notification dated 18.5.1982 issued under Section 4 of the Act, acquired land of Village Vasalpur, Tehsil Naraingarh, District Ambala for construction of Link Road from Chhoti Kohri to village Vasalpur, Tehsil Naraingarh, District Ambala. The Land Acquisition Collector (for short, `the Collector') assessed the market value of the acquired land at the following rates:- Sr. No. Kind of land Rates 1 Chahi, Abadi, Garha Khad, Panchayat Ghar Rs. 4,512/- per acre 2 Barani, G.M. Besak, Khalwara Rs. 3,000/- per acre 3 G. M. Bada, Rori and Johar Rs. 752/- per acre The landowners feeling dissatisfied with the amount of compensation awarded by the Collector, filed objections, which were referred to the learned Reference Court, who keeping in view the material placed on record by the parties, upheld the award of the Collector. It is this order which is impugned in the present set of appeals. RFA No. 433 of 1994 (O&M) (2) Learned counsel for the appellants submitted that the court below has failed to appreciate the evidence led by the landowners on record in the form of sale-deeds showing the value of the land pertaining to the same village ranging from Rs. 8,000/- to Rs. 20,000/- per acre. The learned court below has upheld the award of the Collector which is on the lower side ranging from Rs. 752/- to Rs. 4,512/- per acre. A perusal of the award of the Collector shows that the Collector had determined the fair value of the acquired land on the basis of the rate which was supplied by the District Collector. Reference was made to sale-deeds, Ex. P2 to P4. Vide sale-deed Ex. P2, 3 marlas of land was sold for Rs. 200/- on 17.11.1981 at an average price of Rs. 10,666/- per acre. Vide sale-deed, Ex. P3, land measuring 1 kanal 12 marlas was sold at an average price of Rs. 8,000/- per acre vide registered sale-deed dated 13.11.1980. Vide registered sale-deed, Ex. P4, land measuring 1 kanal was sold at an average price of Rs. 20,000/- per acre on 11.8.1980. It was further submitted that the acquisition was made for construction of Link Road from Chhoti Kohri to Village Vasalpur, Tehsil Naraingarh, District Ambala. The impugned award shows that rasta was already existing there, which was widened than the original existing rasta. He further submitted that mere fact that some part of the acquired land was gair mumkin bada, rori and johar clearly established that it was quite close to the village abadi. Considering these facts, the sale-deeds which were produced by the landowners on record to claim that the value of the acquired land as was assessed was not just and fair, deserves consideration. On the other hand, learned counsel for the State submitted that in fact it is a case of no evidence. There was no site plan on the record to show the location of the sale-deeds produced by the landowners to claim that the value of the land was more as compared to what was assessed by the Collector. Even otherwise, there was great variation in the consideration money paid in the sale- deeds, Ex. P2 to P4. Such variation which was to the extent of 2½ times was required to be justified with the location, which should have been pointed out on site plan by the landowners. Accordingly, there is no error in the award of the learned court below and the appeals deserve to be dismissed. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the relevant referred record. It is a fact that there is no site plan on the record to show the location of the sale-deeds which are pertaining to Village Vasalpur, the land of which was acquired nor the acquired land. Further a perusal of the record shows that the land owned by the appellants in the two appeals is merely 2 kanals 14 marlas which was RFA No. 433 of 1994 (O&M) (3) recorded as Barani. The Collector had assessed the value of the chahi, Abadi, Garha Khad, Panchayat Ghar @ Rs. 4,512/- per acre whereas for barani, G.M. Besak, Khalwara, the value was assessed @ Rs. 3,000/- per acre. A perusal of the sale-deed, Ex. P3, shows that land measuring 1 kanal 12 marlas was sold for Rs. 1,500/- at an average of Rs. 8,000/- per acre, which is chahi kind of land and is located on a road. Further there is too much of variation in the value, as is shown in sale deed Ex. P4 vis-a-vis other sale deeds. As against this, there is evidence led by the State in the form of sale deed (Ex. R1) dated 24.6.1981, wherein 8 kanals 18 marlas of land was sold for just Rs. 2,500/-. This was also pertaining to village Vasalpur. The value of barani land in the present case, of which category the land of the appellants is, has already been assessed @ Rs. 3,000/- per acre which, in my opinion, does not call for any interference. Accordingly, the appeals are dismissed. ( Rajesh Bindal) Judge May 8, 2009 mk