RFA No. 783 of 1994 [1] In the High Court of Punjab & Haryana at Chandigarh Date of decision: April 22, 2009 1. R.F.A. No. 783 of 1994 (O&M) Karam Singh and others ... Appellants vs The State of Haryana .... Respondent 2. R.F.A. No. 936 of 1995 (O&M) State of Haryana and another ... Appellants vs Smt. Pataso Devi .... Respondent 3. R.F.A. No. 937 of 1995 (O&M) The State of Haryana ... Appellant vs Tikka Ram .... Respondent 4. R.F.A. No. 938 of 1995 (O&M) The State of Haryana ... Appellant vs Karam Singh and others .... Respondents Coram: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Rajesh Bindal Present: Mr. Sudhir Aggarwal, Advocate for the land owners. Mr. Lokesh Sinhal, Additional Advocate General, Haryana for the State. Rajesh Bindal J. This order shall dispose of a set of above mentioned four appeals, as common questions of law and facts are involved. R.F.A. No. 783 of 1994 has been filed by the land owners seeking further enhancement of the amount of compensation for the acquired land. R.F.A. Nos. 936 to 938 of 1995 have been filed by the State seeking RFA No. 783 of 1994 [2] reduction of the amount of compensation awarded to the land owners. The facts have been extracted from R. F. A. No. 783 of 1994. Briefly, the facts of the case are that State of Haryana vide notification dated 18.5.1990, issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, “the Act”), acquired land measuring 1.41 acres situated in the revenue estate of Karnal Hadbast No. 1 for construction of road for Sectors 3 and 16 at Karnal. The Land Acquisition Collector (for short, `the Collector') assessed the market value of the land at Rs. 2,78,000/- per acre. The landowners feeling dissatisfied with the quantum of compensation awarded by the Collector, filed objections. On reference under Section 18 of the Act, the learned court below determined the market value of the acquired land @ Rs. 131/- per square yard. A perusal of the impugned award shows the learned court below relied upon award (Ex. P2), vide which it had assessed the market value of the land acquired for Sector 16, Karnal @ Rs. 76/- per square yard and thereon increase @ 12% p.a. was granted for the time gap in the acquisition. The only ground raised in the appeals filed by the State was that the award, which had been relied upon by the learned court below, was already under challenge before this Court and till such time, the same had attained finality, the same should not have been relied upon. The acquisition in award (Ex. P2) was carried out on 22.2.1984. Thereafter, the land owners preferred Regular First Appeals before this Court and the learned Single Judge dismissed the same by maintaining the compensation at the same rate. However, a Division Bench of this Court in LPA No. 866 of 2000 – Hari Singh v. State of Haryana and others, decided on 16.9.2008, assessed the market value of the land @ Rs. 82/- per square yard. As for the acquisition carried out on 22.2.1984, this Court in Hari Singh's case (supra) had assessed the market value of the acquired land @ 82/- per square yard, the land owners in the present case can very well be granted increase @ 12% per annum. The time gap in the two notifications being almost 5 years and 9 months, the same comes out to Rs. 139/- per square yard. The land owners shall also be entitled to all statutory benefits available under the Act. Accordingly, the appeal filed by the land owners is accepted in the manner indicated above, whereas the appeals filed by the State are dismissed. (Rajesh Bindal) Judge 22.4.2009 mk