R.F.A.No.2307 of 1992 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH R.F.A.No.2307 of 1992 Date of Decision:17.09.2009 State of Haryana .....Appellant versus Bijender Singh and others .....Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE AJAY KUMAR MITTAL. Present: Mr.Ashish Sharma, Deputy Advocate General, Haryana, for the appellant. None for the respondents. **** AJAY KUMAR MITTAL, J.(Oral) State has filed the instant appeal under Section 54 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (in short “the Act”) challenging the grant of additional compensation by the reference court vide award dated 18.10.1991 under Section 23(1A) of the Act. Briefly stated, the facts of the case are that the State of Haryana issued Notification under Section 4 of the Act on 01.10.1973 which was published in Haryana Government Gazette on 09.10.1973. This was followed by Notification under Section 6 of the Act. Vide the aforesaid notifications, the State had sought to acquire a big chunk of land including 6 kanals 1 marla belonging to the claimant-respondents herein, situated in the revenue estate of village Mewla Maharajpur, Tehsil Ballabgarh, District Faridabad, for the public purpose, namely, for the development and utilisation of residential area in Sector 28 in Ballabgarh-Faridabad, Controlled Area. The Land Acquisition Collector vide award dated 22.02.1974 awarded compensation at the rate of Rs.210/- per marla. On the reference sought by the claimant-respondents, the reference court R.F.A.No.2307 of 1992 2 determined the compensation at the rate of Rs.18/- per square yard. Besides market value of the acquired land, claimant-land-owners were held entitled to the solatium @ 30% and interest at the rate of 9% per annum for the first year and at the rate of 15% per annum thereafter for the subsequent years, till the date of payment. The land-owners-claimants were also held entitled to 12% amount per annum on the aforesaid market value, as envisaged under Section 23(1A) of the Act. It is this award of additional amount calculated at the rate of 12% per annum as provided under Section 23(1A) of the Act which has given cause to the State of Haryana to file the instant appeal. The issue regarding the award of additional compensation under Section 23(1A) of the Act where the award had been passed by the Land Acquisition Collector prior to 30.04.1982 stands settled by the pronouncements of the Apex Court. The Supreme Court in Union of India Versus Filip Tiago De Gama, AIR 1990 SC 981 and the Constitution Bench decision reported in K.S.Paripoornan Versus State of Kerala and others, (1994) 5 SCC, 593, has held that the additional compensation under Section 23 (1A) of the Act is not available to the land-owners- claimants in respect of the award passed by the Land Acquisition Collector prior to 30.04.1982 i.e., the date when the bill was introduced in the Parliament. Accordingly, the award dated 18.10.1991 passed by the reference court is modified to the extent that the claimants shall not be entitled to the additional amount of compensation under Section 23(1A) of the Act. With the aforesaid modification, the present appeal stands disposed of. September 17, 2009 (AJAY KUMAR MITTAL) seema JUDGE