R.F.A. No. 4538 of 2006 [1] IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH R.F.A. No. 4538 of 2006 (O&M) Date of decision: 10.12.2010 State of Haryana and another .. Appellants v. Smt. Vidya Devi and another .. Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH BINDAL Present: Mr. Pritam Saini and Mr. Rakesh Gupta, Advocates for the land owners. Mr. H. S. Hooda, Advocate General, Haryana with Mr. Ashish Gupta, Assistant Advocate General, Haryana. ... Rajesh Bindal J. 1. This order will dispose of R.F.A. Nos. 4538 to 4590, 4623 to 4626, 4664, 4709 to 4716 of 2006; R.F.A. Nos. 69 to 72, 88, 89, 190, 222, 609, 1208, 1209, 1709, 1710, 1791, 2334, 3086 of 2007; R.F.A. Nos. 288, 289, 305, 1712 and 3266 of 2008; R.F.A. No. 516 of 2009 and R.F.A. No. 1045 of 2010, as common questions of law and facts are involved. 2. 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 the State, the prayer is for reduction thereof. 3. The facts have been extracted from R.F.A. No. 4538 of 2006. Briefly, the facts of the case are that vide notification dated 22.8.2001, issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, `the Act'), State of Haryana acquired 45.34 acres of land in Pehowa town for construction of road as well as for residential and commercial purposes. The same R.F.A. No. 4538 of 2006 [2] was followed by notification dated 25.1.2002, issued under Section 6 of the Act. The Land Acquisition Collector (for short, `the Collector') assessed the market value of the acquired land @ ` 6,00,000/- per acre. 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 of the acquired land @ ` 6,60,000/- per acre. 4. Learned counsel for the land owners submitted that the acquired land is forming part of the municipal limits of Pehowa which is one of the important religious place for Hindus. It is surrounded by holy river Saraswati. Towards eastern side after the river, there is model town, FCI godowns, canal colony, grain market and marriage place. Government Primary School and shops are also located there. It had great future potentiality. The area being in the middle of the already developed area was in fact being used for residential purposes as lot of people had purchased small plots in the area for construction of their houses. The land owners had produced various sale deeds on record showing the value of land quite close to the acquired land which is at about ` 25,00,000/- per acre. Even if those sale deeds are considered to be for small plots of land, a reasonable cut can be applied. The amount of compensation in any case should not be less than 50% of the value depicted in the sale deeds produced by the land owners. As far as sale deeds produced by the State are concerned, it was submitted that though some of them are forming part of the acquired land, but the fact remains that all the sale deeds do not depict total sale consideration which exchanged hands at the time of a deal. It has been even judicially noticed by Hon'ble the Supreme Court. Even otherwise, the sale deeds produced by the State also show that small plots of land were dealt with. This itself shows that in the area because of its strategic location, the people were buying plots of small size. 5. On the other hand, learned Advocate General submitted that the sale deeds, the land forming part whereof is located within the acquired land, is the best piece of evidence as compared to the sale deeds which pertained to the land located beyond that. The sale deeds produced by the State clearly establish that the award of the Collector is just and fair and there was no scope for enhancement from ` 6,00,000/- to ` 6,60,000/- per acre, as has been done by the learned court below. However, he was fair enough to admit the findings recorded by the learned court below regarding the location and the future potentiality of the land and also the importance of the city being a Hindu pilgrimage nature. 6. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the relevant referred record. R.F.A. No. 4538 of 2006 [3] 7. The land owners in the present set of appeals have produced following sale deeds on record: Ex. Date Area sold Consideration paid Value per acre in ` in ` ...................................................................................................................................................... P2 15.1.2003 52.63 square yards 7,37,000/- 6,77,76,553/- P3 4.10.2001 30.55 square yards 92,000/- 1,45,75,450/- P4 17.5.2001 200 square yards 2,00,000/- 48,40,000/- P5 9.2.2001 10 marlas 1,50,000/- 24,00,000/- P6 2.3.2000 3 marlas 60,000/- 28,23,529/- P7 23.12.1999 5 marlas 1,00,000/- 32,00,000/- P8 20.5.1999 100 square yards 50,000/- 24,20,000/- P9 21.4.1999 5.27 marlas 79,000/- 23,98,481/- P10 19.12.1994 2 marlas 24,000/- 19,20,000/- P11 12.1.2001 35.11 square yards 2,00,000/- 2,75,70,492/- P12 20.6.2001 95 square yards 66,500/- 33,88,000/- P13 11.1.2001 5.37 marlas 81,000/- 24,13,407/- P14 11.1.2001 80 square yards 40,000/- 24,20,000/- P22 to 156.94 square yards 4,48,000/- 23,27,500/- P26 8. A perusal of site plan (Ex. P1) produced by the land owners shows that the land pertaining to the aforesaid sale deeds is located quite close to the acquired land and some adjoining the road and some beyond it. In the sale deeds produced by the State consideration paid therein ranges from ` 2,94,253/- to ` 6,03,636/- per acre. A perusal of the sale deeds produced by the land owners as well as the State shows substantial difference therein. No doubt, the land pertaining to the sale deeds produced by the land owners is located just outside the boundary of the acquired land, but still apparently, there is huge difference though all the sale deeds have been registered almost during the same period. Hon'ble the Supreme Court in Civil Appeal No. 6515 of 2009 –Haryana Stae Industrial Development Corporation v. Pran Sukh and others, decided on 17.8.2010, judicially noticed the fact that with a view to evade stamp duty and for other reasons, the sale deeds which are registered for sale of property, transactions are under valued. The relevant passage therefrom is extracted below: “The refusal of the learned Single Judge to rely upon other sale transactions in which sale price of the land was shown as Rs. 7 lakhs per acre also does not suffer from any legal infirmity because it is R.F.A. No. 4538 of 2006 [4] well-known that transactions involving transfer of properties are usually undervalued with a view to avoid payment of the requisite stamp duty and registration charges.” 9. As far as location and potentiality of the land is concerned, the facts, as have been noticed in the impugned award and also in the earlier part of the judgment, clearly establish that the land is strategically located, which is surrounded by already developed residential and commercial establishments, besides being surrounded by holy river Saraswati. The land falls within the municipal limits of Pehowa is also a fact, which is not in dispute. Considering the aforesaid circumstances, its future potentiality cannot be disputed as such. 10. The State for the purpose of planned development of any area invoke the provisions of the Act for acquiring the land. It is envisaged therein that the land owners should be awarded reasonable compensation for the acquired land, which should be commensurate with the market price, namely, what a prospective buyer is ready to pay to a willing seller. The principles for determination of fair value of the acquired land are well settled. However, still in some cases, the courts have to apply a thumb rule, when on the facts it is found that the land owners have not been adequately compensated for their acquired land. The case in hand is one such case where there is lot of variation in the consideration paid as is depicted in the sale deeds produced by the State as well as by the land owners, though both are located close by. However, applying a thumb rule, in my opinion, the value of the acquired land considering the totality of the circumstances and the material, referred to above, should be ` 9,00,000/- per acre as against ` 6,00,000/- per acre awarded by the Collector. Ordered accordingly. The land owners shall also be entitled to all the statutory benefits available to them under the Act. 11. For the reasons mentioned above, appeals filed by the land owners are allowed in the manner indicated above, whereas the appeals filed by the State are dismissed. ( Rajesh Bindal ) Judge 10.12.2010 mk