RFA No.1117 of 1992 -1 - IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH RFA No.1117 of 1992 Date of Decision: 28.4.2009 Charan Singh and others ..Appellants. Vs. The State of Punjab through Land Acquisition Collector SYL, Canal Project, Punjab, Patiala. ...Respondent. CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE RAKESH KUMAR JAIN Present: None for the appellants. Mr.N.S.Pawar, Addl.AG Punjab for the respondent. RAKESH KUMAR JAIN, J.(ORAL) This common order shall dispose of seven Regular First Appeals out of which, four appeals bearing Nos.1893 to 1896 of 1992 are filed by State of Punjab and three appeals bearing Nos.1117 to 1119 of 1992 are filed by claimants in which identical question of law and facts are involved. However, for the sake of convenience, the facts are being taken from RFA No.1117 of 1992. Land situated in village Chaklan, H.B.No.292, Tehsil and District Ropar was notified for acquisition under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short `the Act), published in Punjab Govt. Gazette on 4.9.1985 followed by a notification of declaration under Section 6 of the Act, published in Punjab Govt. Gazette on 30.9.1985, for public RFA No.1117 of 1992 -2 - purpose, namely, for the construction of SYL canal. The Land Acquisition Collector (for short 'the Collector') vide his award No.94/R-SYL dated 17.5.1986 awarded compensation at the following rate: Sr.No. Nature of land Value per acre 1. Chahi Rs.72,500/- per acre 2. Barani Rs.50,000/- per acre 3. Banjar Kadim Rs.45,000/- per acre 4. Gair Mumkin Rs.40,000/- per acre Dissatisfied claimants filed Objections under Section 18 of the Act against the award of the Collector alleging that value of the acquired land is not less than Rs.3,20,000/- per acre as the acquired land is situated on Ludhiana-Chandigarh G.T.Road. The claim was contested by the State of Punjab alleging that the compensation awarded is reasonable and adequate. Both the parties led their respective evidence. The claimants examined Pritam Singh son of Zia Singh as PW1, Pritam Singh son of Sardara Singh as PW2 and Joginder Singh as PW3 and tendered into evidence copies of sale deeds Ex.P2 and Ex.P3 and copy of judgment of the High Court Ex.P4. On the other hand, the State of Punjab tendered into evidence sale deeds Ex.R1, Ex.R2 and Ak-Shijra Ex.R3. The learned Reference Court after taking into consideration the entire evidence on record, found that vide judgment Ex.P3 dated 31.9.1989, the High Court in RFA No.2807 of 1987 conceded agreement Mark A, which was entered into between the Chief Minister of Punjab and the members of Action Committee vide which it was decided to give atleast Rs.1 lac per acre for Chahi land. The learned Reference Court, thus, enhanced the compensation at the following rates: RFA No.1117 of 1992 -3 - (i) Chahi land Rs.1 lac per acre (ii) Barani land Rs.80,000/- per acre (iii) Banjar Kadim Rs.75,000/- per acre (iv) Gair Mumkin Rs.70,000/- per acre No one has put in appearance on behalf of the claimants whereas Sh.N.S.Pawar, Addl.AG Punjab appearing on behalf of the respondents, has vehemently contended that the learned Reference Court has palpably erred in enhancing the compensation by taking into consideration the agreement Mark A. After hearing the learned counsel for the State, I am of the considered view that the agreement Mark A, which has been subject matter of consideration in RFA No.2807 of 1987 titled as “The State of Punjab Vs. Khushal Singh and others” has been taken as a relevant piece of evidence and on the basis thereof, this Court has awarded compensation for Chahi land @ Rs.1 lac per acre. In view of the above, I do not find any illegality in the reasoning adopted by the District Judge, Ropar in his impugned award dated 3.6.1991. Therefore, the said award is upheld and all the appeals filed by State of Punjab as well as by the claimants are hereby dismissed without any order as to costs. (Rakesh Kumar Jain) 28.4.2009 Judge Meenu