R.F.A. No. 83 of 1987 [ 1] IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Date of decision: September 22 ,2008 1 R.F.A. No.83 of 1987 Harbhajan Singh ...Appellant Vs. State of Punjab and another ...Respondents 2 R.F.A. No.84 of 1987 Dharam Singh ...Appellant Vs. State of Punjab and another ...Respondents 3 R.F.A. No.85 of 1987 Jagat Singh ...Appellant Vs. State of Punjab and another ...Respondents 4 R.F.A. No.86 of 1987 Pritam Singh ...Appellant Vs. State of Punjab and another ...Respondents 5 R.F.A. No.87 of 1987 Kehar Singh ...Appellant Vs. State of Punjab and another ...Respondents 6 R.F.A. No.212 of 1987 Radha Ram ...Appellant Vs. State of Punjab ...Respondent R.F.A. No. 83 of 1987 [ 2] 7 R.F.A. No.225 of 1987 State of Punjab and another ...Appellants Vs. Kehar Singh ...Respondent 8 R.F.A. No.383 of 1987 Mewa Singh and others ...Appellants Vs. State of Punjab and another ...Respondents 9 R.F.A. No.473 of 1987 State of Punjab and another ...Appellants Vs. Harbhajan Singh and another ...Respondents 10 R.F.A. No.474 of 1987 State of Punjab and another ...Appellants Vs. Dharam Singh and another ...Respondents 11 R.F.A. No.475 of 1987 State of Punjab and another ...Appellants Vs. Pritam Singh ...Respondent 12 R.F.A. No.476 of 1987 State of Punjab and another ...Appellants Vs. Jagat Singh ...Respondent 13 R.F.A. No.477 of 1987 State of Punjab and another ...Appellants Vs. Mewa Singh and others ...Respondents R.F.A. No. 83 of 1987 [ 3] 14 R.F.A. No.485 of 1987 State of Punjab ...Appellant Vs. Radha Ram ...Respondent 15 R.F.A. No.486 of 1987 State of Punjab ...Appellant Vs. Hari Ram ...Respondent 16 R.F.A. No.961 of 1987 Hari Ram ...Appellant Vs. State of Punjab ...Respondent CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH BINDAL Present: Mr. Pritam Saini, Advocate for the land owners in all the appeals. Mr. B.B.S. Teji, Assistant Advocate General, Punjab for the State in all the appeals. Rajesh Bindal J. This order will dispose of the above mentioned Regular First Appeals bearing Nos. 83 to 87, 212, 225, 383, 473 to 477, 485, 486 and 961 of 1987 as the same arise out of a common acquisition. However, the facts have been extracted from R.F.A. No. 83 of 1987. R.F.A. Nos. 83 to 87, 212, 383 and 961 of 1987 have been filed by the land owners seeking enhancement of the compensation awarded by the learned Court below, whereas R.F.A. Nos. 225, 473 to 477, 485 and 486 of 1987 have been filed by the State for reduction of the compensation. Briefly, the facts are that land in question situated in the revenue estate of Village Makauri Badi was acquired vide notification dated 26.11.1982 issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, `the Act') for construction of Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal ( S.Y.L. Canal). The Land Acquisition Collector (for short, `the Collector') awarded compensation @ 33,680/- per acre for chahi land; Rs. 20,000/- per acre for barani land; Rs. 10,000/- per acre for banjar jadid land and Rs. 5,000/- per acre for gair mumkin land. Aggrieved against the same, the land owners filed objections which were referred to the R.F.A. No. 83 of 1987 [ 4] learned District Judge, Ropar, who keeping in view the material placed on record by the parties, determined the fair value of the land as under: Chahi Rs. 60,000/- per acre Barani Rs. 30,000/- per acre Banjar Jadid Rs. 15,000/- per acre Gair Mumkin Rs. 8,000/- per acre. Learned counsel for the appellants submitted that the land in question was acquired for the purpose of construction of SYL canal and for the land of Village Thali, which was also acquired for the same purpose, the Collector had awarded compensation at the rate of Rs. 2,05,000/- per acre for chahi; Rs. 1,16,000/- per acre for barani and Rs. 30,000/- per acre for gair mumkin land, whereas in the present case, the award of the learned Court below is only Rs. 60,000/- per acre for chahi; Rs. 30,000/- per acre for barani; Rs. 15,000/- per acre for Banjar Jadid and Rs. 8,000/- per acre for gair mumkin land. Keeping in view the judgment of this Court pertaining to the land of Village Thali in Hari Singh (since dead) through L.Rs. v. The Land Acquisition Collector (SYL), Patiala, 2008 (2) RCR (Civil) 352, the value of the land should be assessed at the same rate as it has come on record in the form of the statement of R.W.1-Gurmail Singh Patwari that Village Thali is at a distance of four kilometers from Village Makauri Badi, to which the land in question pertained. He has further referred to a judgment of this Court in R.F.A. No. 102 of 1991-- Darshan Singh v. The Land Acquisition Collector and another, decided on 29.5.2008, wherein for acquisition of land of Village Nanakpura vide notification dated 19.9.1985 for construction of SYL canal, the value was assessed at Rs. 4,84,000/- per acre. On the other hand, learned counsel for the State submitted that the value of the land is to be assessed on the basis of the material on record and not merely on the basis of earlier awards/judgments, unless it is shown that the same pertains to the acquisition of land for the same village or there is no difference as such. He further submitted that on the basis of the material on record, the learned Court below has fairly assessed the value of the land which does not call for any interference. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record. As far as the judgment of this Court in Darshan Singh's case (supra) is concerned, the same cannot be relied upon for the purpose of determination of compensation for the land acquired in the present case for the simple reason that the same pertained to village Nanakpura, the location of which is not evident from any material on record and further the acquisition therein was almost 3 years after R.F.A. No. 83 of 1987 [ 5] the acquisition of the land in the present case. In this judgment, reliance was placed upon an earlier judgment of this Court pertaining to land in village Kotla Nihang. It was further noticed that the area of Nanakpura falls between these two villages and the land in dispute had the same advantages, rather, the same formed part of extension of Ropar Township. It was on these basis that the value of the land was determined. A perusal of the impugned award shows that the land owners even relied upon an award of the Court below for acquisition of land pertaining to Village Thali, even before the Court below, where award of the Collector was upheld. However, keeping in view the fact that there was no such similarity between the two, the same was ignored. It may be noticed that in the present case, the Collector determined the value of the land pertaining to village Makauri Badi at the following rates: “Chahi Rs. 33,680/- per acre Barani Rs. 20,000/- per acre Banjar Jadid Rs. 10,000/- per acre Gair Mumkin Rs. 5,000/- per acre” The award of the Collector for acquisition of land pertaining to Village Thali was to the following effect: “Chahi Rs. 2,05,000/- per acre Barani Rs. 1,16,000/- per acre Gair Mumkin Rs. 30,000/- per acre” A bare perusal of the aforesaid two awards shows substantial difference in the value of the land as assessed by the Collector himself, whereas in the present case, for chahi land the value was assessed at Rs. 33,680/-, in the case of Village Thali, it was assessed at Rs. 2,05,000/- per acre. For barani land in the present case, the value was assessed at Rs. 20,000/- per acre, whereas for village Thali, it was assessed at Rs. 1,16,000/- per acre. In the present case, the Collector awarded Rs. 5,000/- per acre for gair mumkin land, whereas in the case of Village Thali, he awarded Rs. 30,000/- per acre. There is a difference of about 6 to 7 times in the assessment of value by the Collector for assessment of land for Village Makauri Badi and Village Thali. The award of the Collector is also based on certain sale instances, the averaging of which is done for the assessment of the value of the land on the date of acquisition. As far as other sale instances, produced by the land owners are concerned, the same are Ex. P.3 to P.5 and R.2 to R.4. Vide sale deed Ex. P.3, chahi land measuring 10 marlas was sold for Rs. 2,500/-, i.e., at the rate of Rs. R.F.A. No. 83 of 1987 [ 6] 40,000/- per acre on 27.7.1982. Vide sale deed Ex. P.4, chahi land measuring 7 marlas was sold for Rs. 2,000/-, i.e., at the rate of Rs. 45,713.60 on 19.5.1981. Vide sale deed Ex. P.5, 7 marlas of barani land was sold for Rs. 2,000/-, i.e., at the rate of Rs. 45,713.60 on 26.11.1982. The sale instance showing the maximum sale consideration is only Ex. R.3 at the rate of Rs. 26,666.66 for the sale of 9 marlas of chahi land on 8.7.1982. As against these sale instances on record, the Collector had himself assessed the value of the land at Rs. 60,000/- per acre for chahi land. However, on the basis of principles followed by this Court in Hari Singh's case (supra), some increase is called for in the value of the land assessed for barani land. In view of my above discussion, the award of the Collector determining value of the chahi land at Rs. 60,000/- per acre is upheld. However, following the principles followed in Hari Singh's case (supra), with regard to acquisition of land for Village Thali, the value of barani land is assessed by applying a cut of 1/5th and is determined at Rs. 48,000/- per acre. The land owners shall also be entitled to all statutory benefits under the Act. Accordingly, the appeals filed by the land owners are partly accepted, whereas the appeals filed by the State are dismissed. (Rajesh Bindal) Judge September 22 ,2008 mk