RFA No.3010 of 1989 -1- ****** IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH RFA No.3010 of 1989 Date of decision:07.10.2010. The State of Punjab ...Appellant Versus Satanjiv (deceased) through his LRs and others ...Respondents CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE RAKESH KUMAR JAIN Present: Mr. Ram Lal Gupta, Addl. A.G., Punjab, for the appellant/State. None for the respondents. ***** RAKESH KUMAR JAIN, J. I shall dispose of 4 appeals bearing RFA No.3010 of 1989 titled as 'The State of Punjab Vs. Satanjiv (deceased) through his LRs and others', RFA No.3002 of 1989 titled as 'The State of Punjab Vs. Smt. Kartari and others', RFA No.2085 of 1989 titled as 'The State of Punjab Vs. Surjit Singh and others' and RFA No.2348 of 1989 titled as 'The State of Punjab Vs. Smt Chinto and others' by this common order as the question of facts and law involved in these appeals are identical. Briefly, the facts of the case are that the land in dispute situated in village Maida Majra, Hadbast No.238, Tehsil Anandpur Sahib, District Ropar was notified under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 [for short “the Act”] vide notification dated 13.05.1976, published on 14.05.1976 followed by notification issued under Section 6 of the Act dated 09.09.1976 for the public purpose, namely, for setting up of Soda Ash/Ammonium Chloride and Caustic Soda Project at Nangal. Vide his RFA No.3010 of 1989 -2- ****** award No.2 dated 07.06.1979, the Land Acquisition Collector [for short “Collector”] awarded compensation in accordance with the kind of land, which is as under: - Kind of land Rates (per acre) Chahi `14,000/- Barani `12,000/- Banjar Qadim & Gair Mumkin `6,000/- On reference, in RFA No.3010 of 1989 titled as `The State of Punjab Vs. Satanjiv (deceased) through his LRs and others, the District Judge, Ropar, vide his award dated 01.08.1989, re-assessed the compensation @ `18,000/- per acre for Barani land and `20,000/- per acre for Chahi land. In RFA No.2085 of 1989 titled as 'The State of Punjab Vs. Surjit Singh and others', the Reference Court, vide award dated 02.02.1989, re-assessed the compensation @ `18,000/- per acre for Barani land, `20,000/- per acre for Chahi land and `12,000/- per acre for Banjar Qadim and Gair Mumkin land. Similarly, land of village Ajouli, Hadbast No.237 was also acquired for the same purpose in which the Collector, vide his award No.1 dated 07.06.1976 assessed compensation `14,000/- per acre for Barani land and `12,000/- per acre for Banjar Qadim and Gair Mumkin land. District Judge, Ropar, vide his award dated 01.08.1989, re- assessed the compensation @ `18,000/- per acre for Barani land in RFA No.3002 of 1989 titled as 'The State of Punjab Vs. Smt. Kartari and others'. Land of village Rampur Sahni, Hadbast No.235 was also acquired for the same purpose, in which the Collector, vide his award No.5 dated 07.06.1976, assessed compensation @ `12,000/- per acre for Barani land. The District Judge, Ropar, vide his award dated 16.05.1989, re-assessed the compensation @ `18,000/- per acre for Barani land in RFA No.2348 of 1989 titled as 'The State of Punjab Vs. Smt Chinto and others'. Shri Ram Lal Gupta, Additional Advocate General, Punjab has submitted that in all the cases the compensation has been re-assessed on the basis of previous award (Ex.P1). He has also very fairly referred to a decision of this Court in RFA No.2704 of 1989 titled as 'State of Punjab RFA No.3010 of 1989 -3- ****** Vs. Jog Raj' in which land was acquired in the year 1982 for the same purpose. The aforesaid RFA No.2704 of 1989 was dismissed by this Court on 09.02.2005 by observing as under:- “This order will dispose of RFA Nos.2704, 2705 and 2706 of 1989 filed by the State of Punjab challenging enhancement of compensation by the reference court. The State of Punjab acquired land for setting up Soda Ash/Ammonium Chloride and Caustic Soda Project at Nangal, pursuant to notification dated 16.07.1982 under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, the Act). The Collector determined compensation vide award dated 25.01.1983 at the rate of `14,000/- per acre for `Barani' land and on reference under Section 18 of the Act, compensation was enhanced to `18,000/- per acre along with statutory benefits. Enhancement was based on previous award Ex.P.1 in respect of the same acquisition. No other evidence was led by either party. Having regard to the fact that except Ex.P.1, no other evidence was led by either party, the reference court was justified in enhancing the compensation to `18,000/- per acre, on the basis of previous award Ex.P.1. There is, thus, no scope for setting aside the enhancement awarded. The appeals are dismissed.” Learned counsel for the appellant/State has very fairly stated that the aforesaid order squarely covers the dispute herein and as such, in view thereof, I do not find any force in the present appeals which are, thus, dismissed. No costs. October 07, 2010 (RAKESH KUMAR JAIN) vinod* JUDGE