RFA No.1295 of 1991 -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH RFA No.1295 of 1991 Date of decision:04.12.2009 Ratti Ram and others …Appellants Versus State of Haryana …Respondent Coram:- HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE L. N. MITTAL. Present: Mr.M. L. Sharma, Advocate with Mr. C.L. Sharma, Advocate and Mr. Praveen Chauhan, Advocate for Ms. P. K. Wasu, Advocate for the appellants. Mr. Ashish Gupta, AAG, Haryana for respondent No.1. None for proforma respondents. L. N. MITTAL, J (ORAL) By this common judgment, I am disposing of following 26 appeals i.e 13 appeals filed by landowners and 13 appeals filed by State of Haryana. 13 Appeals preferred by landowners 1. RFA No.980 of 1993 Dharam Pal and others vs. State of Haryana 2. RFA No.981 of 1993 Partap Singh vs. State of Haryana 3. RFA No.982 of 1993 Shankar vs. State of Haryana 4. RFA No.1213 of 1993 Ram Chander and others vs. State of Haryana 5. RFA No.1265 of 1993 Thambu and others vs. State of Haryana 6. RFA No.1295 of 1991 Ratti Ram (died) through his LRs vs. State of Haryana 7. RFA No.1296 of 1991 Shankar and another vs. State of Haryana 8. RFA No.1297 of 1991 Dhan Singh and others vs. State of Haryana 9. RFA No.1298 of 1991 Gokal vs. State of Haryana 10.RFA No.1299 of 1991 Devi Ram (died) through his LRs vs. State of Haryana RFA No.1295 of 1991 -2- 11. RFA No.1300 of 1991 Bhalle and others vs. State of Haryana 12. RFA No.1399 of 1991 Ram Chander and another vs. State of Haryana 13. RFA No.1439 of 1991 Partap Singh vs. State of Haryana 13 Appeals preferred by State of Haryana 1. RFA No.1041 of 1993 State of Haryana vs. Dharam Pal and others 2. RFA No.1042 of 1993 State of Haryana vs.Thambu and others 3. RFA No.1043 of 1993 State of Haryana vs. Shankar 4. RFA No.1044 of 1993 State of Haryana vs. Ram Chander and others 5. RFA No.1353 of 1993 State of Haryana vs. Partap Singh 6. RFA No.1552 of 1991 State of Haryana vs. Dhan Singh and others 7. RFA No.1553 of 1991 State of Haryana vs. Gokal 8. RFA No.1554 of 1991 State of Haryana vs. Devi Ram 9. RFA No.1555 of 1991 State of Haryana vs. Ram Chander and others 10.RFA No.1556 of 1991 State of Haryana vs. Shankar and anothers 11. RFA No.1557 of 1991 State of Haryana vs. Bhalle Ram and others 12. RFA No.1558 of 1991 State of Haryana vs. Partap Singh 13. RFA No.1784 of 1991 State of Haryana vs. Ratti Ram (died) through his LRs Mr. K. K. Doda, the then Additional District Judge, Jind vide award dated 25.02.1991 disposed of 9 reference petitions filed under Section 18 of the Land Acqusition Act, 1894 (in short, the Act). Out of them, landowners in 8 cases have come in appeal and State has also come in appeal in those cases. Mr. B. L. Singal, the then Additional District Judge, Jind vide award dated 17.12.1992 disposed of 5 reference petitions under Section 18 of the Act and appeals have been preferred in all the said 5 cases by the landowners as well as by State of Haryana. In the award passed by Mr. K. K. Doda, 18.47 acres of land RFA No.1295 of 1991 -3- situated in revenue estate of Jind and 26.01 acres of land situated in the revenue estate of village Haibatpur, Tehsil and Distt. Jind was acquired for public purpose namely for development and utilisation of land as residential area under the Haryana Urban Development Authority Act, 1987. Notification No.LAC (P)-NTLA-87/1785 dated 08.04.1997 was issued under Section 4 of the Act and notification dated 18.03.1988 was issued under Section 6 of the Act for the said acquisition. Land Acquisition Collector, Urban Estate, Haryana, Faridabad vide two separate awards dated 27.03.1989 awarded compensation at the rate of Rs.60,000/- per acre for chahi land and Rs.50,000/- per acre for Gair Mumkin land in the revenue estate of Jind and at the rate of Rs.45,000/- per acre for chai land and Rs.50,000/- for Gair Mumkin land in the revenue estate of village Haibatpur. Mr. K. K. Doda determined the market value of acquired land of both Jind and Haibatpur at uniform rate of Rs.1,60,000/- per acre. Award of Mr. B. L. Singal pertains to acquisition of 7.82 acres land of village Haibatpur for which notification under Section 4 of the Act was published in the gazette on 24.03.1987 and notification under Section 6 of the Act was published in the gazette on 03.11.1987. The said land was acquired for public purpose for construction of Jind-Safidon road. Land Acquisition Collector vide award dated 08.02.1988 determined the market price of the acquired land at Rs.45,600/- per acre. Mr. B. L. Singal vide impugned award determined market value of the acquired land to be Rs.70,600/- per acre. Notifications for the two acquisitions were issued in a gap of 15 days only. It is also not disputed that market price of the acquired land in both the acquisitions would be the same. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the case file. In the cases decided by Mr. K. K. Doda, landowners produced RFA No.1295 of 1991 -4- three sale instances and the State produced seven sale instances. The same are tabulated as under:- Exhibit Date of Area sold Sale price Rate per Rate per Remarks Sale. Sq. yard acre P.5 11.4.88 440 Sq. Rs.63,500/- Rs.121/- Rs.5,85,640/- Situate in yards. 'B' block Urban Estate, Jind, towards City, Jind P.6 07.4.88 162 Sq. Rs.23,500/- Rs.121/- -do- -do- meters. P.6 05.4.88 162 Sq. Rs.23,500/- Rs.121/- -do- -do- meters, i.e. 194 sq. yards Exhibit Date of Area sold Sale price Rate per Rate per Remarks Sale. Sq. yard acre R.2 18.10.85 10 marla Rs.7,500/- Rs.25/- Rs.1,21,000/- 280 Karmas towards East of the acquired land. R.3 7.11.86 22K-15M Rs.1,07,500/- Rs.8-17P Rs.39,540.22 180 Karmas (situate towards Haibatpur) East of the acquired land. R.4 7.11.86 25 Kanals Rs.1,23,500/- Rs.8-16P Rs.39,520/- 210 Karmas towards East of the acquired land. R.5 29.12.86 8 kanals Rs.39,500/- -do- Rs.39,500/- 170 Karmas towards East of the acquired land. R.6 29.12.86 -do- -do- -do- -do- -do- R.7 04.12.87 19 marlas Rs.6000/- Rs.10-43 Rs.50,526/- -do- R.8 04.12.87 18 marlas Rs.6000/- Rs.11-00 Rs.53,333.33 15 Karmas towards East of the acquired land. Mr. K. K. Doda held that sale instances Ex.P-5 to Ex.P-7 relied RFA No.1295 of 1991 -5- on by the landowners are not comparable sale instances because the said sale instances relate to plots situated in developed residential colony and these sale instances are of small plots whereas the land under acquisition is a big tract and before acquisition, it was only agricultural land. Mr. K. K. Doda also excluded from consideration sale instances EX.R-3 to Ex.R-8 being not comparable sale instances as the same pertained to land situated far away towards Safidon from the acquired land and also far away from the road. Sale instance EX.R-2 was, however, found to be comparable sale instance. As per said sale deed dated 18.10.1985, Ex.R-2, plot of 10 marlas was sold at the rate of Rs.25/- per square yard i.e Rs.1,21,000/- per acre. Notification under Section 4 of the Act is dated 18.04.1987 i.e 18 months after the date of the said sale deed. Mr. K. K. Doda allowed increase of 10% per annum for the said intervening period, but while making calculation, Mr. K. K. Doda in fact allowed increase of 12% per annum and calculated the market price to be Rs.1,42,780/- per acre. However, in spite of said calculation, Mr. K. K. Doda allowed compensation for the acquired land at the rate of Rs.1,60,000/- per acre. Learned counsel for the landowners vehemently contended that sale instances Ex.P-5 to Ex.P-7 are also comparable sale instances and should, therefore, have been taken into consideration. The contention cannot be accepted. Vide these sale deeds, a plot measuring 440 square meters and two plots measuring 162 square meters each were sold. Sale instances of small plots cannot form basis for determination of market price of big tract of agricultural land. Moreover, the plots sold vide sale deeds Ex.P-5 to Ex.P-7 were situated in 'B' Block of Urban Estate, Jind, towards City, Jind from the acquired land. The said plots were thus situated in developed area. Moreover, the said sale deeds were executed almost a year after the notification under Section 4 of the Act. So the said sale RFA No.1295 of 1991 -6- instances have been rightly excluded from consideration by the reference Court. However, even if sale instances Ex.P-5 to Ex.P-7 are taken into consideration by applying appropriate cuts, the same would not help the landowners. For the gap period of one year from the date of notification under Section 4 of the Act till the dates of these sale deeds, 12% per annum cut has to be applied and, therefore, the sale prices of Rs.5,85,640/- per acre as per these sale deeds would come to approximately Rs.5,15,000/- per acre. If further cut of 30% is applied in lieu of sale deeds being for small plots as submitted by counsel for landowners himself, the price would come to approximately Rs.3,60,000/- per acre. In addition thereto, for developing of a colony, almost 45% space has to be left for roads, open spaces and other basic and common facilities. Accordingly, if further cut of 45% is applied, the price would come to Rs.1,98,000/- per acre. Then there has to be further cut in lieu of expenses of development i.e roads, sewerage, street lights and other common facilities and amenities. License from competent authority also has to be obtained for carving out/ developing a colony and huge amount of license fee/external development charges has to be paid for the same. It would take the price to much less than that being awarded by this Court as calculated hereinafter. Consequently, these sale instances also do not come to the rescue of the landowners. Sale instance vide sale deed Ex.R-2 has been relied on by the Reference Court. However, that sale instance is also of a small plot of 10 marlas i.e 300 square yards. The reference Court did not apply any cut in lieu of sale instance being of a small plot. Moreover, the reference Court after calculating the price at Rs.1,42,780/- per acre, on the basis of sale instance Ex.R-2 and without applying any cut in lieu of small plot, further enhanced the compensation to Rs.1,60,000/- per acre without any basis. RFA No.1295 of 1991 -7- Consequently, there is merit in the contention of learned State counsel for reduction of compensation awarded by Mr. K. K. Doda vide award dated 25.02.1991. On the basis of sale instance Ex.R-2, after allowing increase at the rate of 12% per annum for the gap period from the date of sale deed till date of notification under Section 4 of the Act, market price comes to Rs.1,42,780/- per acre. Although normally cut of 30% is applied in the case of sale instance of small plots,, yet even if moderate and marginal cut of 15% is applied on account of sale instance being of a small plot, the market price would come to approximately Rs.1,21,000/- per acre. Accordingly, market price of the acquired land in all the cases is calculated to be Rs.1,21,000/- per acre. In view of the aforesaid, market price of acquired land in all the cases is determined to be Rs.1,21,000/- per acre which the landowners shall be entitled to, along with all statutory benefits in accordance with provisions of Section 23(1-A), Section 23(2) and Section 28 of the Act. Accordingly, 5 appeals filed by landowners bearing RFA Nos.980, 981, 982, 1213 and 1265 of 1993 against the award dated 17.12.1992 passed by Mr. B. L. Singal, the then Additional District Judge, Jind are allowed to the aforesaid extent and the 5 appeals filed by State bearing RFA Nos.1041 to 1044 and 1353 of 1993 against the same award are dismissed. On the other hand, 8 appeals bearing RFA Nos.1552 to 1558 and 1784 of 1991preferred by State of Haryana against award dated 25.02.1991 passed by Mr. K. K. Doda, the then Additional District Judge, Jind are allowed to the aforesaid extent whereas 8 appeals bearing RFA Nos.1295 to 1300, 1399 and 1439 of 1991 preferred by landowners against the same award are dismissed. ( L. N. MITTAL ) JUDGE 04.12.2009