RFA No. 229 of 1994 (1) IN THE PUNJAB AND HARYANA HIGH COURT AT CHANDIGARH RFA No. 229 of 1994 (O&M) Date of decision : 6.4.2011 Smt. Sunehri Devi (deceased) through LRs and others ...Appellants vs The State of Haryana and another ..Respondents Coram: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Rajesh Bindal Present: Mr. Ajay Jain, Advocate, for the landowners. Mr. Ashish Gupta, Assistant Advocate General, Haryana. Rajesh Bindal, J. This order will dispose of appeals bearing RFA Nos. 229 and 483 of 1994, arising out of common award. The landowners have filed appeal seeking enhancement of compensation for the acquired land whereas by filing appeal the State is seeking reduction thereof. Briefly the facts of the case are that State of Haryana vide notification dated 28.10.1980 issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, 'the Act'), sought to acquire land measuring 16.07 acres situated within the revenue estate of village Hisar, for Hisar-Kaimry road. The same was followed by notification under Section 6 of the Act dated 10.3.1981. The Land Acquisition Collector (for short, 'the Collector') vide award dated 31.3.1986 assessed the market value of the acquired land @ ` 1,45,280/- per acre for Block-'A', ` 1,21,120/- per acre for Block-'B', ` 96,800/- per acre for Block-'C', ` 72,640/- per acre for Block-'D', and ` 33,120/- per acre for Block-'E'. Dissatisfied with the award of the Collector, the landowners filed objections. On reference under Section 18 of the Act, the learned court below assessed the market value of the acquired land @ ` 80/- per square yard. Now both the parties are in appeal before this court impugning the award of the learned court below. RFA No. 229 of 1994 (2) As far as valuation of land is concerned, it is not disputed by learned counsel for both the parties that the value of acquired land determined @ ` 80/- per square yard was upheld by this court in RFA No. 1804 of 1989 Yudhbir Singh Lamba and others vs The State of Haryana and another decided on 1.10.2004. Learned counsel for the landowners submitted that the possession of the land was taken by the State in the year 1965-66 whereas the notification under Section 4 of the Act was issued on 28.10.1980. For this intervening period, the Collector had awarded interest to the landowners. Even on the enhanced amount of compensation, the landowners should be paid interest for the period they were deprived of the possession of the land before issuance of notification under Section 4 of the Act. On the other hand, learned counsel for the State submitted that it is well settled that for any period prior to issuance of notification under Section 4 of the Act, the landowners cannot be awarded any interest. If some extra amount had been awarded by the Collector, which is not permissible, that amount can very well be adjusted with the enhanced compensation awarded by the learned court below as the compensation is to be considered as a composite amount and not with reference to the ingredients contained therein. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the relevant referred record. As far as the grant of interest to the landowners for the landowners were dispossessed prior to issuance of notification under Section 4 of the Act is concerned, no doubt in terms of judgment of Hon'ble the Supreme Court in Special Land Acquisition Officer v. Karigowda and others, (2010) 5 SCC 708, interest for any period prior to the issuance of notification under Section of the Act, cannot be awarded as the same has to be in the form of damages for use and occupation of land. Hon'ble the Supreme Court in Karigowda's case (supra) held that the land owners are entitled for damages from the date of dispossession till the date of notification under Section 4 of the Act. The relevant part of the said judgment is extracted below: “We are bound by the decision of the larger RFA No. 229 of 1994 (3) Bench, in R. L. Jain case, which had considered Satinder Singh, on which the reliance has even been placed by the claimants in the present appeal. The larger Bench after detailed discussion on the subject rejected the claim for payment of interest claimed by the respondents in those cases prior to the date of issuance of the notification under Section 4 of the Act. As is evident from the above dictum of the Court, despite dispossession, the title continues to vest in the landowners and it is open for the land owners to take action in accordance with law. Once notification under Section 4(1) of the Act has been issued and the acquisition proceedings culminated into an award in terms of Section 11, then alone the land vests in the State free of any encumbrance or restriction in terms of provisions of Section 16 of the Act. The court, in situations where possessions have been taken prior to issuance of notification under Section 4 (1) of the Act, can direct the Collector to examine the extent of rent or damage that the owners of land would be entitled to, the provisions of Section 48 of the Act would come to aid and the court would also be justified in issuing appropriate direction. This was the unequivocal view expressed by the Court in R. L. Jain case as well. This legal question is no more open to controversy and stands settled by this court. We would follow the view taken and accept the contention of the appellant-State that the reference court as well as the High Court could not have granted any interest under the provisions of the Act, for a date anterior to the issuance of notification under Section 4 of the Act. However, following the dictum of the Bench in R. L. Jain case, we direct the Collector to examine the question of payment of rent/damages to the claimants, from the period when their respective lands RFA No. 229 of 1994 (4) were submerged under the back water of the river, till the date of issuance of the notification under Section 4(1) of the Act, from which date, they would be entitled to the statutory benefits on the enhanced compensation.” In view of the judgment of Hon'ble the Supreme Court in Karigowda's case (supra), the land owners are entitled for compensation from the date of their dispossession till the date of notification under Section 4 of the Act. The land owners shall file application before the Collector concerned to claim damages for their dispossession from the land for the aforesaid period. These applications may be filed upto 31.5.2011 and if such applications are filed then the Collector shall consider the same and shall award such amount to the appellants as may be payable in accordance with law. The applications shall be disposed of finally before 31.8.2011 after affording personal hearing to the parties. The appeals are disposed of in the manner indicated above. 6.4.2011 (Rajesh Bindal) vs Judge