RFA No. 545 of 2004 [1] IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH RFA No. 545 of 2004 Date of Decision: 22.10.2009 Sh. Shyam Singh & others ......Appellants Versus State of Haryana and others .......Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HEMANT GUPTA. 1. Whether Reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment? 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? Present: Shri Akshay Bhan, Advocate, for the appellants. Shri Lokesh Sinhal, Additional AG, Haryana, for the respondents. HEMANT GUPTA, J. (Oral). This order shall dispose of a bunch of the following 21 Regular First Appeals, arising out of impugned Award rendered by the Reference Court on 31.3.2003:- Sr. No. Appeal No. Parties Name 1 RFA No. 545 of 2004 Shyam Singh v. State of Haryana 2 RFA No. 546 of 2004 Lal Chand & Ors. v. State of Haryana & Ors. 3 RFA No. 547 of 2004 Ram Sarup & Ors. v. State of Haryana & Ors. 4 RFA No. 548 of 2004 Partap Singh & Ors. v. State of Haryana & Ors. 5 RFA No. 549 of 2004 Dharmo & Ors. v. State of Haryana & Ors. 6 RFA No. 550 of 2004 Om Parkash & Ors. v. State of Haryana & Ors. 7 RFA No. 551 of 2004 Satyavir & Ors. v. State of Haryana & Ors. 8 RFA No. 552 of 2004 Subhash & Ors. v. State of Haryana & Ors. 9 RFA No. 553 of 2004 Parkash & Ors. v. State of Haryana & Ors. RFA No. 545 of 2004 [2] 10 RFA No. 554 of 2004 Lal Chand & Ors. v. State of Haryana & Ors. 11 RFA No. 555 of 2004 Basau & others v. State of Haryana & Ors. 12 RFA No. 556 of 2004 Smt. Ankor & Ors. v. State of Haryana & Ors. 13 RFA No. 557 of 2004 Ram Chander & Ors. v. State of Haryana & Ors. 14 RFA No. 558 of 2004 Basau & Ors. v. State of Haryana & Ors. 15 RFA No. 559 of 2004 Neki & Ors. v. State of Haryana & Ors. 16 RFA No. 560 of 2004 Ram Niwas & Ors. v. State of Haryana & Ors. 17 RFA No. 561 of 2004 Surat Singh & Ors. v. State of Haryana & Ors. 18 RFA No. 562 of 2004 Smt. Resham & Ors. v. State of Haryana & Ors. 19 RFA No. 563 of 2004 Sat Narain & Ors. v. State of Haryana & Ors. 20 RFA No. 564 of 2004 Ram Sarup & Ors. v. State of Haryana & Ors. 21 RFA No. 565 of 2004 Mangi Ram & Anr. v. State of Haryana & Ors. Vide notification dated 12.1.1996 under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 [ for short `the Act'], land measuring 1003 acres situated in the revenue estate of village Khedar, Tehsil and District Hisar, was acquired for a public purpose, namely, for installation of Thermal Power Plant. The Land Acquisition Collector vide its Award No. 2 dated 7.12.1998, assessed the market value of the acquired land @ Rs.1,25,000/- per acre for Nehri land; Rs.70,000/- per acre for Tal and Rs.55,000/- per acre for Tibba Land. Dissatisfied with the Award rendered by the Collector, the land owners sought references under Section 18 of the Act. The learned Reference Court, vide its Award dated 31.3.2003 did not find any error in the determination of the market value by the Land Acquisition Collector and, thus, answered the references against the land owners. Still aggrieved, many land owners filed Regular First Appeals before this Court. Such 175 Regular First Appeals came up for final hearing before this Court on 23.12.2008. This Court in RFA No. 2936 of 2003 RFA No. 545 of 2004 [3] [ State of Haryana and another v. Suresh Kumar and others] and other appeals, has enhanced the compensation amount @ Rs.8500/- per acre over and above the compensation awarded by the Collector for the acquired land. The land owners were also found entitled for the statutory benefits in terms of the amending Act. Counsel for the parties concede that the present set of 21 appeals, is also covered by the judgment rendered by this Court in the aforesaid appeal. Therefore, the present appeals are also allowed in the same terms as RFA No. 2936 of 2003 [supra] decided on 23.12.2008. [HEMANT GUPTA ] JUDGE 22-10-2009 ds