CWP No. 1516 of 2010 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CWP No. 1516 of 2010 Date of decision: 19.07.2010 Dharam Singh s/o Sh. Roop Ram and another ….. PETITIONERS VERSUS State of Haryana and others ….. RESPONDENTS CORAM:HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE JASBIR SINGH HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH Present: Mr. Pankaj Nanhera, Advocate, for the petitioners. Mr. Gagandeep Singh Wasu, Sr. DAG, Haryana, for respondents No. 1 to 3. Mr. Sandeep Goel, Advocate, for Mr. Jagdish Mandhanda, Advocate, for respondent No. 4. *** Jasbir Singh, J. (Oral) The land of the petitioners was acquired in the year 2005. The Award was passed on 16.07.2007 and following amount of compensation was fixed by the Collector for the acquired land. “ Prime Land Rs. 24-lac per acre Land falling in Rs. 20-lac per acre Municipal Limits Remaining Land Rs. 10-lac per acre.” CWP No. 1516 of 2010 2 The petitioners were paid compensation by treating their land falling outside the municipal limit. The petitioners have filed this writ petition by stating that in fact their land was within the municipal limit and they should have been granted compensation @ 20 lac per acre. To support this contention, reliance has been placed on the certificates dated 13.08.2007 and 08.12.2009 respectively (Annexures P-2 and P-3) issued by the Municipal Council, Jagadhri, wherein it has been stated that the land of the petitioners bearing Khasra No. 25//12/1, 12/2 is situated within the municipal limit. This fact has not been controverted by the respondents in paragraph 3 of the written statement, which reads thus:- “ That now the Deputy Commissioner, Yamuna Nagar has informed this office vide his letter No. 1550 dated 13.08.2009 that in compliance of your letter No. 6208 dated 12.08.2009 it is submitted that due to receiving the wrong report from the Tehsildar, Jagadhri in respect of Village Bhatouli the mistake had happened. As per report again received from Tehsildar, Jagadhri and Municipal Committee, Jagadhri the Khasra Nos. mentioned in the annexure P/iv are falling in the Municipal limit and the khasra Nos. mentioned in the annexure P/v have not been acquired by this office. The true typed copy of letter No. 1550 dated 13.8.2009 sent by the Deputy Commissioner along with report received from Tehsildatr and Executive Officer, Jagadhri is annexed as annexure R/1.” CWP No. 1516 of 2010 3 It is apparent from the records that a mistake was committed by the authorities in making the payment of compensation on the basis that the Acquired Land falls beyond the municipal limit. If that is so, as per the stand taken by the respondents, the petitioners cannot be relegated to avail remedy under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. The authorities are duty bound to make payment of compensation to the petitioners as per the rate fixed by the Collector for the land, which is situated within the municipal limit. Accordingly, this writ petition is allowed. A direction is issued to the respondents to make payment of compensation to the petitioners, as discussed above. The needful be done within a period of two months' from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. ( JASBIR SINGH ) JUDGE ( AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH ) JUDGE July 19, 2010 pj