R.F.A. No. 1492 of 2008 [1] IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH R.F.A. No. 1492 of 2008 (O&M) Date of decision: April 08, 2011 Haryana State Industrial & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. .. Appellant v. Smt. Krishna Rani and another .. Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH BINDAL Argued by: Mr. Dhiraj Chawla, Advocate for Haryana State Industrial & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. Mr. R. N. Lohan, Mr. V. D. Sharma for Mr. R. S. Tacoria, Mr. Naveen Gupta and Mr. S. K. Garg Narwana, Mr. Neeraj Malhotra for Mr. Naveen S. Bhardwaj, Advocates for the land owners. Mr. H. S. Hooda, Advocate General, Haryana with Mr. Ashish Gupta, Assistant Advocate General, Haryana. ... Rajesh Bindal J. This order will dispose of R.F.A. Nos. 1492 to 1541, 2242, 2243, 2447 to 2457, 3267,3268, 4588 to 4594, 4657 to 4660, 4864 to 4867 of 2008 and R.F.A. Nos. 163 to 167 of 2009, as common questions of law and facts are involved. In the appeals filed by the land owners, they are seeking further enhancement of compensation for the acquired land, whereas in the appeals filed by Haryana State Industrial & Infrastructure Development R.F.A. No. 1492 of 2008 [2] Corporation Ltd. (for short, `HSIIDC''), the prayer is for reduction thereof. Briefly, the facts of the case are that vide notifications dated 21.5.2002, 21.5.2002, and 7.5.2003, issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, `the Act'), land measuring 13 acres, one kanal and 11 marlas; 95 acres, 1 kanal and 12 marlas and 3 kanals and 4 marlas respectively, situated in villages Dumerkhan Kalan and Narwana, District Jind was sought to acquire for setting up of Food Park at Narwana. The Land Acquisition Collector (for short, `the Collector') assessed the market value of the acquired land @ ` 8,00,000/- per acre for the land on the road and ` 2,10,000/- per acre for Nahri and Gair Mumkin kind of land. Dissatisfied with the award of the Collector, the land owners filed objections. On reference under Section 18 of the Act, the learned court below assessed the market value @ ` 9,00,000/- for the land located on the road and ` 7,00,000/- per acre for rest of the land. It is this award, which is impugned in the present set of appeals. Learned counsel for the land owners submitted that the minimum rates fixed for registration of a sale deed by the Collector in the area was ` 600/- per square yard. The same should be awarded as compensation for the acquired land considering the fact that normally the Collector's rates are below the market price. The land is strategically located. Rice shellers, petrol pumps and other commercial establishments were located close to the acquired land. It is at the corner where two National Highways are abutting on two sides. The land pertaining to Sub Divisional Complex acquired vide notification dated 7.6.2000 is located towards the city, but not at a far off place. The value of the acquired land in the present case, if not more, should not be less than what is assessed for the land acquired for Sub Divisional Complex. Though it was admitted that the land pertaining to Sub Divisional Complex was located within the municipal limits, whereas the land in the present case is located outside the municipal limits. It was further submitted that belting system adopted by the learned court below should be done away with. For the purpose of assessment of value in addition to the value of land pertaining to the Sub Divisional Complex, reliance was placed R.F.A. No. 1492 of 2008 [3] upon sale deed (Ex. P5), vide which 54 kanals and 2 marlas of land was sold for ` 52,00,000/-. The aforesaid sale deed was registered on 8.11.2001 at an average price of ` 7,68,958/- per acre. This portion of land is located just adjoining to the acquired land. Considering the location and potentiality of the acquired land and also the fact, judicial notice of which has been taken numerous times, namely, that there is a trend of under valuing the sale transaction with a view to avoid stamp duty, the value of the land is required to be assessed. On the other hand, learned Advocate General submitted that valuation of land pertaining to the Sub Divisional Complex cannot possibly be made the basis for the valuation of the land in question. For the purpose of assessment in the present case, sale transaction (Ex. P5) pertaining to a big chunk of land adjoining to the acquired land is available. The moment one goes away from the city, the value of the land decreases. The land pertaining to the Sub Divisional Complex is located merely 380 meters from bus stand of Narwana, whereas the land in question though is located on Highway but away from the city. The belting method is required to be applied for the purpose of assessment of fair value of the acquired land in case the same abuts any road and the land located behind that. No illegality as such has been committed by the learned court below in applying the belting method. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the relevant referred record. As far as location of the land is concerned, there is no dispute that the same is located at a corner where National Highway No. 65 (Chandigarh-Hissar road) is abutting the acquired land on one side and National Highway No. 71 (Delhi-Patiala road) is located on the other side. It is not a disputed fact that the acquired land is located outside the municipal limits. The land pertaining to the Sub Divisional Complex is located within the municipal limits. There were certain rice shellers, petrol pumps and other commercial establishments close to the acquired land. As far as valuation of the acquired land is concerned, in my opinion, it would not be safe to place reliance upon the value of land R.F.A. No. 1492 of 2008 [4] acquired for the purpose of Sub Divisional Complex considering the fact that in that case the value of the acquired land was assessed considering the sale deed, which was forming part of the acquired land therein, whereas in the case in hand, there is a sale deed (Ex. P5) available which is pertaining to big chunk of land located adjoining to the acquired land abutting the National Highway. The genuineness of the same is not in dispute. Apparently, the same may not have been under-valued for the reason that the land in question was purchased by S. D. Public School for the purpose of construction of a school. The average sale consideration paid therein is ` 7,58,958/- per acre. The aforesaid sale deed was registered on 8.11.2001. The first notification in the present case was issued on 21.5.2002. If for the time gap of six months, increase @ 6% (i.e. 12% per annum) is added thereon, the value shall come out to ` 8,15,095/- per acre. The aforesaid chunk of land is having frontage of about two acres on road, whereas rest of the land is located behind that. Considering the fact that the acquired land is having the advantage of two National Highways on two of its sides and a link road upto the depth of nine acres out of 12 acres on third side, the value of the acquired land is to be assessed. For the purpose many times thumb rule is also to be applied. It cannot be doubted that the land had potential for being used for commercial purposes considering its location. Considering the material on record and also sale deed (Ex. P5), in my opinion, the value of the acquired land deserves to be assessed @ ` 10,00,000/- per acre for the land abutting the National Highway upto the depth of two acres, whereas for the rest of the land, the amount of compensation as awarded by the learned court below, i.e., ` 7,00,000/- per acre is upheld. This is for the land which was acquired vide notification dated 21.5.2002. For the land acquired vide notification dated 7.5.2003, the value of the land abutting the National Highway upto the depth of two acres is assessed @ ` 11,20,000/- per acre, whereas for rest of the land, the same is assessed @ ` 7,84,000/- per acre. It is by giving increase @ 12% per annum for the time gap in the two notifications. R.F.A. No. 1492 of 2008 [5] The land owners shall also be entitled to all statutory benefits available to them under the Act. To ensure that the land owners are not fleeced by the middleman in the process of disbursement of enhanced compensation, Hon'ble the Supreme Court in Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation v. Pran Sukh and others, 2010 AIR SCW 631, issued certain directions. I deem it appropriate to issue same directions in the present set of appeals as well. The same are as under: “With a view to ensure that the land owners are not fleeced by the middleman, we deem it appropriate to issue following further directions: (i) The Land Acquisition Collector shall depute officers subordinate to him not below the rank of Naib Tehsildar, who shall get in touch with all the land owners and/or their legal representatives and inform them about their entitlement and right to receive enhanced compensation. (ii) The concerned officers shall also instruct the land owners and/or their legal representatives to open savings bank account in case they already do not have such account. (iii) The bank account numbers of the land owners should be given to the Land Acquisition Collector within three months. (iv) The Land Acquisition Collector shall deposit the cheques of compensation in the bank accounts of the land owners.” Taking lead from the aforesaid directions issued by Hon'ble the Supreme Court and finding that harassment of the land owners is not only at the stage when enhanced amount of compensation is to be paid, rather, it is even at the stage when the award by the Collector is announced as for the payment of compensation, the land owners are to run after the Patwaris or the officials in the office of the Collector. R.F.A. No. 1492 of 2008 [6] Section 9 of the Act provides that the Collector shall issue notice to all concerned to enable them to stake their claim regarding compensation for the land, which has been acquired as the State intends to take possession thereof. The notice is required to be served upon the owners/occupiers of the land. Section 10 of the Act empowers the Collector to require any such person to submit to him a statement containing the name of every other person possessing any interest in the land or any part thereof as co-owner, mortgagee, tenant etc. and the nature of such interest etc. Section 11 of the Act casts a duty on the Collector to enquire into the objections, if any, filed by the persons in pursuance to notice given under Section 9 of the Act pertaining to the measurements and valuation of land and shall make an award pertaining to valuation of the land and also the apportionment of compensation, in case required. In terms of Section 12 of the Act, the award announced by the Collector is deemed to be final and conclusive between the Collector and the persons interested whether they appear before the Collector or not. A notice of the award is required to be given to the persons who were not personally present when the award was pronounced. State of Haryana has come out with a policy specifying minimum rates to be awarded for acquisition of land in different areas. The first policy in the series was issued on 28.4.2005, which was revised on 6.4.2007 and the current policy in vogue was issued on 9.11.2010. A perusal of the policy issued on 9.11.2010 shows that in addition to the amount of compensation to be paid to the land owners, a specified sum is also required to be paid as annuity for a period of 33 years. For payment of the aforesaid amount, the State Government requires filling of an application with certain specified particulars including details regarding bank account of the land owners so that amount could be transferred in his account directly. Once this exercise is being done at the very initial stage, this can very well be followed for the purpose of payment of compensation to the land owners, as has been awarded by the Collector. The land owners can be asked to furnish the details of their bank accounts in response to the notices issued to them under Section 9 of the Act and in all undisputed R.F.A. No. 1492 of 2008 [7] claims, the amount should directly be transferred by the Collector in the bank accounts of the land owners immediately after announcement of the award. This will not only save harassment of the land owners but also time and energy of the officials of the office of the Collector. The aforesaid system should not only be restricted to the State of Haryana, rather, the same system should be followed even in the State of Punjab and Union Territory, Chandigarh, where also the Collector at the time of issuance of notices under Section 9 of the Act should ask the land owners to furnish the details of their bank account particulars and the Collector shall be duty-bound to directly transfer the amount of compensation in their bank accounts in all the undisputed cases. As far as the cases where there is some dispute regarding entitlement of compensation or the cases where the land owners have not approached the Collector for receiving the amount, as learned counsel for the State had not been able to take a definite stand, the State shall frame a policy to keep such amount in the manner that the land owners therein get reasonable return on the amount which is paid to them on a later date. The appeals stand disposed of in the above terms. Copy of the order be sent to Chief Secretaries of Punjab and Haryana and Home Secretary, Union Territory, Chandigarh. (Rajesh Bindal) Judge April 08, 2011 mk