IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA RFA No.448 of 2001 Date of decision : September 18, 2009 Sukh Dev …Appellant. Versus L.A.C and another …Respondents. Coram The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Surjit Singh, Judge. Whether approved for reporting?1 Yes. For the Appellant : Mr. Sunil M Goel, Advocate. For the Respondents : Mr. Ramesh Thakur Assistant Advocate General. Surjit Singh, J (Oral) Appellant has challenged the award, dated 24th July, 2001, of learned District Judge, whereby, while disposing of Reference, under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, made at the instance of the appellant it has been held that the compensation for the acquired property of the appellant has rightly been determined by the Land Acquisition Collector and, hence, prayer for enhancement of the said compensation has been rejected, though interest has been ordered to be paid at the rate of 6 per cent per annum on the amount of compulsory acquisition charges upto the date of payment of charges has been ordered to be paid to him. 2. I have heard the learned counsel for the appellant as also the learned Assistant Advocate General and gone through the record. Whether reporters of the local papers may be allowed to see the judgment? …2… 3. Notification for acquisition was issued in October, 1991. Market value of the acquired land was assessed by the Land Acquisition Collector at the rate of Rs.12,500/- per Biswa. Appellant claimed that the value was not less than Rs.25,000/- per Biswa. There also stood some structure on the acquired land. Land Acquisition Collector assessed the value of that structure at Rs.5,881/-. According to the appellant, the value of the structure was around Rs.2.5 lac. 4. Appellant tendered in evidence three sale deeds executed subsequent to the issuance of the notification. The sale deeds are Ex. PW-1/A, Ex. PW-1/B and Ex. PW- 1/C. Dates of their execution are 27th April, 1992, 28th September, 1992 and 20th June, 1993, respectively. These sale deeds having been executed subsequent to the issuance of the notification, the possibility that inflated rates were mentioned in the sale deeds, to seek compensation at higher rate, cannot be ruled out, especially when all the three sale deeds show that small parcels of land had been sold thereby. Otherwise also, average market value of the land sold through the three sale deeds comes to less than Rs.12,000/- per Biswa, whereas the Land Acquisition Collector assessed the market value at the rate of Rs.12,500/- per Biswa. 5. Coming to the claim of enhancement of compensation for structure, suffice it to say that while …3… notification for acquisition was issued, in the year 1991, a valuer engaged by the appellant, for assessing the value, applied the schedule of rates for 1997 and not only that but he also made an addition of 60 per cent over those rates, on account of escalation of costs. The entire exercise is contrary to common sense. When the property had been notified for acquisition in the year 1991, how could the rates of 1997 have been applied and then an increase at the rate of 60 per cent over and above that could have been given. 6. However, I find that the learned District Judge has fallen in error in awarding interest at the rate of 6 per cent, on the amount of compulsory acquisition charges, which was denied by the Land Acquisition Collector. Interest ought to have been awarded by the Land Acquisition Collector at the rate of 9 per cent per annum, from the date of taking over of the possession upto the date of payment/deposit of the amount of compensation and if the time gap between the taking over of the possession and the deposit of the compensation money was more than one year, interest was required to be paid at the rate of 15 per cent per annum, for the period in excess of one year, per Section 34 of the Land Acquisition Act. Accordingly, the appeal is partly allowed and it is ordered that interest on the amount of compulsory acquisition charges, to be calculated at the rate of 30 per cent of the market value of …4… the land and the structure, shall be payable at the aforesaid rate, i.e. 9 per cent per annum, for the first year and at the rate of 15 per cent per annum for the remaining period, from the date of the taking over of the possession to the date of payment/deposit of such compulsory charges. Appeal stands disposed of accordingly. September 18, 2009(sd) ( Surjit Singh ), J