R.F.A. No. 1990 of 1988 [1] IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH R.F.A. No. 1990 of 1988 (O&M) Date of decision: 20.1.2011 Karanbir Singh .. Appellant v. State of Punjab .. Respondent CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH BINDAL Present: Mr. Gauttam Dutt, Advocate for the land owner. Mr. Yatinder Sharma, Deputy Advocate General, Punjab. ... Rajesh Bindal J. This order will dispose of R.F.A. Nos. 1990 to 1993 of 1988, as common questions of law and facts are involved. The land owners are in appeal seeking further enhancement of compensation for the acquired land. The facts have been extracted from R.F.A. No. 1990 of 1988. Briefly, the facts of the case are that vide notification dated 22.5.1981, issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, `the Act'), State of Punjab sought to acquire land in village Dalanpur for construction of Patiala bye-pass. The Land Acquisition Collector (for short, `the Collector'), vide his award dated 22.9.1986, assessed the market value of the acquired land @ ` 70,000/- 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 upheld the award of the Collector. It is against this award, which is impugned before this court. Learned counsel for the land owners submitted that the land in R.F.A. No. 1990 of 1988 [2] the present case was acquired for the purpose of construction of Patiala bye- pass. It pertains to village Dalanpur. The issue regarding determination of fair value of land acquired for the same purpose vide notification dated 23.12.1981 pertaining to villages Ghalori and Chaura was considered by this court vide detailed judgment dated 10.11.2008 in R.F.A. No. 1535 of 1991 –Jaswant Kaur (deceased) through LRs and others v. The State of Punjab and another assessing the compensation @ ` 1,67,000/- per acre. The land of village Sher Majra was also acquired for the same purpose, where in LPA No. 182 of 1992 –Sewa Singh and another v. State of Punjab and another, decided on 20.8.1999, compensation was assessed @ ` 1,05,000/- per acre. However, the land pertaining to village Sher Majra is located at a far off place from the city, whereas the land in question is located adjoining to the land of village Ghalori and close to the city. Accordingly, placing reliance upon the judgment in Jaswant Kaur's case (supra), the land owners in the present set of appeals be also awarded compensation @ ` 1,67,000/- per acre. On the other hand, learned counsel for the State submitted that compensation for the acquired land should be determined on the basis of evidence produced on record by the land owners. Mere reliance on the judgment is totally mis-conceived. The land pertaining to village Ghalori is located quite close to the city and had more potentiality as compared to the land of village Dalanpur, which is located at a far off place. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the relevant referred record. In Jaswant Kaur's case (supra), it was noticed that Patiala bye- pass originated from Rajpura-Patiala road, just crossing the Urban City Phase-I and Phase-II, which is located between Punjabi University and Patiala city. The first village to which the land belongs is village Chaura and then it passes through the land belonging to village Ghalori. The acquired land pertaining to village Dalanpur is located immediately thereafter. For the land of acquisition of village, Ghalori, this court in Jaswant Kaur's case (supra) had assessed the compensation @ ` 1,67,000/- per acre, whereas for the land of village Sher Majra, which is located close to Patiala-Sangrur road, this court in Sewa Singh's case (supra) assessed the compensation @ R.F.A. No. 1990 of 1988 [3] ` 1,05,000/- per acre. Considering the aforesaid two judgments and applying a thumb rule, in my opinion, it would be reasonable to assess the value of land pertaining to village Dalanpur @ ` 1,40,000/- per acre. The land owners shall also be entitled to all the statutory benefits available to them under the Act. Hon'ble the Supreme Court in Civil Appeal No. 6515 of 2009 – Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation v. Pran Sukh and others, decided on 17.8.2010, to ensure that the landowners are not fleeced by the middleman in the process of disbursement of enhanced compensation, 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.” The appeals are disposed of in the manner indicated above. ( Rajesh Bindal ) Judge 20.1.2011 mk R.F.A. No. 1990 of 1988 [4]