RFA No.288 of 1993 - 1 - IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH **** RFA No.288 of 1993 Date of decision: 04.12.2008 **** State of Punjab . . . . Appellant(s) Vs. Bachni and others . . . . Respondent(s) **** CORAM : HON’BLE MR.JUSTICE RAKESH KUMAR JAIN **** Present: Mr.N.S. Pawar, Addl. A.G. Punjab, for the appellant(s). Mr.R.B.S. Chahal, Advocate, for the respondent(s). **** RAKESH KUMAR JAIN J. This judgment shall dispose of nine appeals, bearing RFA Nos.288 to 292 of 1993 (five in number) filed by the State of Punjab and RFA Nos.402, 404, 407 & 408 of 1994 (four in number) filed by the landowners, against the impugned award of the reference Court dated 1.9.1992. The aforesaid appeals are being disposed of by common judgment as common questions of law and facts are involved therein. However, the facts are being taken from RFA No.288 of 1993 titled as ‘State of Punjab and Bachni and others”. Land measuring 3.46 acres situated in the revenue estate of village Lochma, H.B. No.122, Tehsil Rajpura, District Patiala was sought to be acquired vide notification issued under RFA No.288 of 1993 - 2 - Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (in short ‘the Act’) published in Government Gazette on 14.3.1988 followed by a notification of declaration issued under Section 6 of the Act published in the Punjab Government Gazette dated 30.3.1988, for the public purpose, namely, for the construction of Lochma sub- minor. The Land Acquisition Collector, SYL, Canal Project, Punjab (in short ‘the Collector’) vide his award No.341/P-SYL dated 25.1.1989 classified the acquired land into two categories namely, i) Chahi (17 kanals 4 marlas); ii) Gair Mumkin (0 kanal 3 marlas) total measuring 17 kanals; 7 marlas; and awarded compensation for i) Chahi - Rs.60,000/- per acre; ii) Gair Mumkin - Rs.35,040/- Per acre. Being aggrieved against the award pronounced by the Collector under Section 11 of the Act, the landowners filed objections under Section 18 of the Act and claimed the value of the acquired land @ Rs.2 lac per acre. In the written statement, the State of Punjab denied the claim set up by the landowners and urged that the compensation awarded by the Collector is just and reasonable. Both the landowners as well as the State of Punjab led their respective oral as well as documentary evidence. The learned reference Court, after taking into consideration, evidence on record much less a judgment of this Court Ex.A3 awarded compensation for Chahi land @ Rs.15000/- per bigha and Gair Mumkin land @ 6000/- per bigha, besides awarding the statutory benefits in terms of the provisions of the amended Act. RFA No.288 of 1993 - 3 - Mr.N.S. Pawar, Addl. A.G. Punjab, has vehemently contended that the reference Court has committed an error of law in discarding the sale deeds Exs.R1 and R2. I have heard both the parties and perused the record. Insofar as, the sale deed Ex.R1 dated 18.6.1987 is concerned an area of 3 bigha 2 biswas was sold for a consideration of Rs.16000/- of village Sahal, which comes to Rs.24,774/- per acre, sale Deed Ex.R2 is in respect of 1 bigha 10 biswas of land dated 6.11.1987 for a consideration of Rs.5000/- which comes to Rs Rs.16,000/-. Therefore, in view of Section 25 of the Act, the sale deeds have been rightly ignored by the reference Court as the value arising out of these two sale deeds is lower than the award of the collector and cannot be considered. No other point has been raised in this appeal either by the learned counsel for the appellants or the respondents. In view of the above, I do not find any merit in the present appeals. As such, these appeals are hereby dismissed without any other as to costs. (RAKESH KUMAR JAIN) 04.12.2008 JUDGE vivek