R.F.A. No. 2840 of 2008 1 In the High Court of Punjab & Haryana at Chandigarh Date of decision : 14.5.2010 1) R.F.A. No. 2840 of 2008 State of Haryana and another .... Appellants Versus Subhash Chand and others .... Respondents 2) R.F.A. No. 2841 of 2008 State of Haryana and another .... Appellants Versus Sham Sunder and others .... Respondents 3) R.F.A. No. 2842 of 2008 State of Haryana and another .... Appellants Versus Mewa Singh and others .... Respondents 4) R.F.A. No. 2843 of 2008 State of Haryana and another .... Appellants Versus Gram Panchayat .... Respondent 5) R.F.A. No. 2844 of 2008 State of Haryana and another .... Appellant Versus Zile Singh and others .... Respondent 6) R.F.A. No. 2845 of 2008 State of Haryana .... Appellant Versus Satnam Singh .... Respondent 7) R.F.A. No. 2846 of 2008 State of Haryana and another .... Appellants Versus Jai Narain and others .... Respondents 8) R.F.A. No. 2847 of 2008 State of Haryana and another .... Appellant Versus Gopi and others .... Respondents R.F.A. No. 2840 of 2008 2 9) R.F.A. No. 3000 of 2008 State of Haryana .... Appellant Versus Hari Singh and others .... Respondent 10) R.F.A. No. 4117 of 2008 Satnam Singh .... Appellant Versus State of Haryana .... Respondent 11) R.F.A. No. 4118 of 2008 Hari Singh and others .... Appellants Versus State of Haryana .... Respondent 12) R.F.A. No. 1348 of 2009 (O&M) Chhabeg Singh and others .... Appellants Versus State of Haryana and others .... Respondents Coram: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Rajesh Bindal Present: Mr. H. S. Hooda, Advocate General, Haryana with Mr. Ashish Gupta, Assistant Advocate General, Haryana. Mr. S. N. Pillania, Advocate, for the landowners. Rajesh Bindal J. This order shall dispose of the aforesaid appeals, as the same arise out of common acquisition. The State is in appeal before this court against the award of the learned court below seeking reduction in the compensation for the acquired land whereas the landowners have filed appeals seeking further enhancement in compensation. The facts have been extracted from RFA No. 2840 of 2008. Briefly, the facts of the case are that vide notification dated 17.12.2002 issued under Section 4 of Land Acquisition the Act, 1894 (for short, “the Act”), State of Haryana, acquired 1.49 acres of land situated in revenue estates of Village Dathrath, Tehsil Safidon, District Jind, for construction of Dhathrath to Alewa Road. Notification under Section 6 of the Act was issued on 30.9.2003 in respect of 1.56 acres of land. The Land Acquisition Collector (hereinafter to be referred as “the Collector”) awarded compensation to the landowners at Rs. 5 lacs per acre vide award no. 3-J dated 20.9.2005. Dissatisfied with the award of the Collector, the landowners filed objections. On reference R.F.A. No. 2840 of 2008 3 under Section 18 of the Act, the learned court below, on the basis of material placed on record by the parties, assessed the compensation at Rs. 7 lacs per acre, vide award dated 31.3.2008. It is this award which is impugned by the State before this court. Learned Advocate General submitted that the learned court below has not given due consideration to the evidence produced by the State in the form of award, Ex. R1, and sale-deeds, Ex. R-2 and Ex. R-3, while assessing the market value of the acquired land. He submitted that the award of the Collector deserves to be upheld and the amount awarded by the learned court below be set aside. On the other hand, learned counsel for the landowners submitted that the market value assessed at Rs. 7 lacs per acre by the learned court below cannot be said on higher side as the Government of Haryana had fixed minimum rate of land in the State of Haryana at Rs. 8 lacs per acre vide memo dated 6.4.2007. It was also submitted that due to the construction of road, the land of the landowners has been divided into two parts on account of which they are also entitled to damages on account of severance. Heard learned State counsel and perused the paper-book. A perusal of the paper-book shows that sale-deeds, Ex. R-2 and R-3, was executed on 23.5.2002 and notification under Section 4 of the Act was issued on 17.12.2002. The court below considered the sale-deeds and held that it is usual practice that the sale-deeds were executed for lessor amount naturally to save the stamp charges. Therefore, the same cannot be considered for the purpose of assessment of fair market value of the acquired land. Learned Advocate General, Haryana, did not dispute the fact that the Government of Haryana had fixed minimum rate of land in the State of Haryana at Rs. 8 lacs per acre vide memo dated 6.4.2007. Further that with the acquisition of land for construction of road, the land of the owners is always divided into two parts on account of which the landowners are also entitled to award on damages on account of severance. Even otherwise the acquired land is a small portion of land merely 1.56 acres belonging of many landowners. If the aforesaid factors are considered, the award of compensation by the learned court below @ Rs. 7 lacs per acre cannot be said to be on higher side. In view of the above, I do not find any merit in the present appeals. Accordingly, the same are dismissed. 14.5.2010 (Rajesh Bindal) vs. Judge