RFA No. 2578 of 1989 -1- In the High Court of Punjab & Haryana at Chandigarh R. F. A. No. 2578 of 1989 (O&M) Rajinder Singh .... Appellant vs State of Haryana and another ..... Respondents Coram: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Rajesh Bindal Present: Mr. Ramesh Kumar, Advocate, for the appellant. Mr. Lokesh Sinhal, Additional Advocate General, Haryana. Rajesh Bindal J. This appeal has been filed by the landowner for enhancement of compensation of the fruit bearing trees. Briefly, the facts are that vide Notification dated 17.10.1978, issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, “the Act”), the land was acquired for the purpose of Sector-4 Transport Nagar, Karnal along with fruit bearing trees. The Land Acquisition Collector vide his award dated 18.12.1985 assessed the value of 125 fruit bearing trees at Rs. 9125.40 paise. On reference, the learned Additional District Judge, Karnal, vide judgment dated 23.2.1989, upheld the award of the Collector. It is this award which is under challenge before this court. Learned counsel for the appellants submitted that admittedly 125 fruit bearing trees of different nature were standing on the acquired land but still the learned court below upheld the award of the Collector granting compensation merely of Rs. 9125.40 paise. He submitted that a publication dealing with the “Basic Principles and Methods” of evaluation of fruit trees, published by S. Harbans Singh, formerly Director of Horticulture, Himachal Pradesh, as referred in Ranjit Singh vs The Union Territory of Chandigarh 1983 PLJ 290 was required to be applied for the purpose of assessment of value of the fruit bearing trees. Some of the trees standing on the acquired land were of 25 years of age whereas some were merely one year. On the other hand learned counsel for the State submitted that adequate compensation has been assessed for the trees which does not call for any interference of this court. RFA No. 2578 of 1989 -2- Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record. The fact that fruit bearing trees were acquired which included 10 Guava, 20 Pomegranate, 37 Lichi, 15 Alucha, 11 Lokat, 10 Pappiya, besides other trees of Amla, Chiku, Nimbu, Nashpati, Mausami, etc. is not disputed. The learned court below has assessed the value of these trees merely at Rs. 9125.40 paise which, in my opinion, is on lower side keeping in view the number of trees and their age. It would be appropriate if the same is assessed at Rs. 20,000/- in lump-sum as in such cases some times thumb rule has to be applied. Ordered accordingly. The appellants shall also be entitled to all statutory benefits as are available under the Act. 14.5.2009 ( Rajesh Bindal) vs. Judge