R.F.A. No. 463 of 2010 [ 1] IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH R.F.A. No. 463 of 2010 (O&M) Date of decision: December 09, 2010 Raghunath .. Appellant v. State of Haryana and others .. Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH BINDAL Present: Mr. B. K. Bagri, Mr. N. S.Shekhawat, Mr. Arun Yadav, Mr. Sanjay Mittal, Mr. Sandeep Kumar Yadav,Mr. Ajay Jain, Mr. Mukesh Mittal, Advocates for the land owners. Mr. H. S. Hooda, Advocate General, Haryana with Mr. Ashish Gupta, Assistant Advocate General, Haryana. ... Rajesh Bindal J. This order will dispose of R.F.A. Nos. 463 to 477, 766 to 800, 812 to 817, 859 to 897, 922 to 935, 944 to 954, 1817, 2090 to 2096, 2302 to 2314, 2392, 2433 to 2437, 2440 to 2452, 2485, 2486, 2645 to 2658, 2672 to 2674, 2766 to 2780, 2802 to 2808, 2855 to 2861, 2995 to 2997, 4242, 4490 to 4496, 4516, 4563, 4564, 4577, 4919 to 4923, 5069 to 5071 of 2010, as common questions of law and facts are involved. The land owners are in appeal seeking further enhancement of compensation for the acquired land. The facts have been extracted from R.F.A. No. 463 of 2010. Briefly, the facts of the case are that vide notification dated 27.1.2003, issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, `the Act'), land measuring 139.40 acres situated in villages Chandpur, Piwra, Padiawas, Dhaliawas District Rewari was acquired by the State of Haryana for R.F.A. No. 463 of 2010 [ 2] residential and commercial Sectors 18, 19 and 20 Part and commercial Sector 17 Part at Rewari. The same was followed by notification dated 23.1.2004, issued under Section 6 of the Act. The Land Acquisition Collector (for short, `the Collector'), vide award dated 20.1.2006, assessed the market value of the acquired land @ ` 12,50,000/- per acre. Dissatisfied with the award of the Collector, the land owners filed objections. On reference under Section 18 of the Act, the learned court below assessed the market value of the acquired land @ ` 20,00,000/- per acre. Learned counsel for the land owners submitted that considering the location of the land, the development activities going on in the area and its future potentiality, the compensation, as has been awarded by the learned court below, deserves further enhancement. The acquired land pertains to five villages, which are located just in the out-skirts of the already developed area in Rewari . It is adjoining various residential colonies like Vijay Nagar, Bhakati Nagar Govt. Employees colony etc. and is surrounded by abadi of the village. Number of industrial units and banquet halls were located in the vicinity. It was surrounded by the roads and even within the acquired land, there was a good network of roads and each and every portion of the land could very well be approached. As regards the evidence to substantiate the claim regarding enhancement of compensation for the acquired land is concerned, it was submitted that the land owners produced on record ten sale deeds, namely, Ex. P1 to Ex. P9 and Ex. P11. Sale deeds (Ex. P1, Ex. P2 and Ex. P6 to Ex. P.9) formed portion of the acquired land. These are the best piece of evidence for the purpose of assessment of fair value thereof. The genuineness of the aforesaid sale deeds cannot possibly be doubted, as those were registered well before the acquisition process started. It cannot be said that those were created to jack up the prices of the land in the area to claim higher compensation. Even otherwise, the State is not in appeal against the award of the learned court below. The aforesaid sale deeds were though relied upon by the learned court below, but not appropriately. Even if the land in the aforesaid sale deeds pertained to small pieces of plots, but the same cannot be ignored as such. Even no cut is required to be applied on the consideration shown in the aforesaid sale deeds as the land is forming part of municipal limits and further the State is not in appeal before this court. It was further submitted that the entire area is forming part of National Capital Region, which also shows that there was pressure for development in the area. Further, the submission was that the sale deeds relied upon by the land owners, which were forming part of the acquired land, were registered 2-3 years R.F.A. No. 463 of 2010 [ 3] prior to the date of issuance of notification under Section 4 of the Act. The learned court below has failed to grant any increase thereon to determine the value thereof on the date of issuance of notification under Section 4 of the Act. The increase at least @ 12% per annum should be added thereon and thereafter the compensation determined. If the aforesaid amount is added thereon, the average per acre price would come out to ` 37,09,873/-. Further reliance was placed upon a judgment of this court in R.F.A. No. 3353 of 2001-Bhawani Sahai and another v. State of Haryana and others, decided on 5.5.2008, (Ex.P 18) pertaining to acquisition of land for Sector 5, Rewari, which was acquired vide notification dated 15.2.1990. The submission was that in the aforesaid case for the acquisition carried out about 13 years prior in time, this court had awarded ` 990/- per square yard as compensation, which itself shows that the area in the vicinity was already developed or was developing at a very fast pace. In response to the contentions raised by learned counsel for the land owners, learned counsel for the State submitted that the fact cannot be disputed that the sale instances arising out of the acquired land are the best piece of evidence. In the present case, there are six sale instances produced by the land owners, which are forming part of the acquired land seven sale instances produced by the State are of similar nature. As the land pertaining to the aforesaid sale deeds is located at different places, it would be most appropriate to average the sale consideration paid therein and apply a reasonable cut considering the fact that the sale deeds pertained to very small portions of land. The entire land is not forming part of municipal limits of Rewari. He further submitted that this would be appropriate otherwise also for the reason that the land pertaining to different sale deeds is located in different portions of the acquired land and it will show the value of land pertaining to the portions of land having different advantages/disadvantages. The average sale consideration paid in sale deeds (Ex. R3 to Ex. R9), which are forming part of the acquired land, after adding increase thereon @ 12% per annum from the date of registration of sale deeds till the issuance of notification under Section 4 of the Act, comes out to ` 14,88,599/- per acre. There is no documentary evidence produced on record by the land owners to show that entire land falls within the municipal limits of Rewari. Mere statement of Devender Kumar Patwari appearing as RW1 in his cross-examination cannot be taken as such, as the notification under Section 4 of the Act in the present case was issued on 27.1.2003, whereas his statement was recorded on R.F.A. No. 463 of 2010 [ 4] 31.7.2009. Even if his statement is taken to be true on the date it was made, but still the fact can be that the land may have been included in the municipal limits after the issuance of notification under Section 4 of the Act. He further submitted that though the State is not in appeal, but still the amount of compensation, as has been awarded by the learned court below, is much more than what the land owners deserved. In fact, after averaging the consideration paid in the sale deeds produced by both the parties, if a cut of 40% is applied, which should be considered as quite reasonable, the value would come out to merely ` 15,06,000/- per acre. No other argument was raised. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the relevant referred record. As far as location of the land is concerned, the same is quite evident from site plan (Ex. P10) produced on record by the land owners. The land, though is pertaining to five revenue estates but is located in the out-skirts of Rewari city. It is adjoining various residential colonies, like abadi of Vijay Nagar, Bhakati Nagar, Govt. employees Colony, village Dhaliawas,Yugal Vihar, Mangal Vihar etc., commercial centres, like Swarn Regency, Luxmi Sadan, Banquet halls etc., Sectors 3 and 4, various industrial units and HUDA bye-pass road. It is a fact, which is not in dispute that out of various sale deeds produced on record by both the parties, there are six sale deeds, namely, Ex. P1, Ex. P2 and Ex. P6 to Ex. P9 produced by the land owners, which are forming part of the acquired land and similar are sale deeds (Ex. R3 to Ex. R9) produced by the State. The date of registration thereof, the area dealt with and the consideration paid therein is extracted below: .............................................................................................................................................................. Sr. No. Sale deed Date of registration Area Value Price per in ` acre in ` ................................................................................................................................................................ 1. Ex. P1 5.11.2001 2 Marlas 40,000/- 32,00,000/- 2. Ex. P2 24.5.2001 1 Kanal 1 Marla 3,50,000/- 26,66,667/- 3. Ex. P6 29.5.2000 7 Marlas 1,20,000/- 27,42,857/- 4. Ex. P7 25.5.1999 12 Marlas 2,10,000/- 28,00,000/- 5. Ex. P8 16.8.1999 7 Marlas 1,35,000/- 30,85,714/- 6. Ex. P9 21.6.1999 8 Marlas 1,50,000/- 30,00,000/- It is settled position of law that the sale deeds, the genuineness of which is not in doubt and which are forming part of the acquired land, are the best piece of evidence for the purpose of assessment of fair value of the acquired land. R.F.A. No. 463 of 2010 [ 5] The case in hand is probably one of the very few cases in which in the evidence led by both the parties there are sale deeds produced on record, the land pertaining to which is forming part of the acquired land. A perusal of site plans (Ex. P10 and Ex. R10) produced on record by both the parties show the location of the land pertaining to the aforesaid sale deeds. A perusal of the aforesaid site plans show that location of the land is at different places in the entire acquired land. Meaning thereby the prices paid therein show a variety, where different plots may have some advantages or disadvantages and the prices were paid in terms thereof. In the land acquisition cases, the compensation cannot possibly be assessed with mathematical exactitude. Some estimation is made on the basis of evidence produced on record by the parties, the efforts though always remain that the land owners are paid fair value of compensation for the acquired land. A perusal of the details of various sale deeds produced on record by both the parties, the land pertaining to which is forming part of the acquired land, shows that those were registered 2-3 years prior to the date of issuance of notification under Section 4 of the Act. It has been judicially accepted that to arrive at fair value in these circumstances, increase @ 12% per annum is added thereon for the period from the registration of sale deed till the issuance of notification under Section 4 of the Act. Adding 12% per annum thereon, for the time gap, as aforesaid, the value of the land as would come out is extracted in the following table: Sale deeds produced by the land owners: .............................................................................................................................................................. Sale deed/ Area Value Price per acre Difference of Price per acre after Date K M in ` period adding 12% p.a. in ` .......................................................................................................................................................... Ex.P1 0- 2 40,000/- 32,00,000/- 14 months 36,48,000/- 5.11.2001 Ex. P2 1- 1 3,50,000/- 26,66,667/- 20 months 32,00,000/- 24.5.2001 Ex. P6 0-7 1,20,000/- 27,42,857/- 32 months 36,20,553/- 29.5.2000 Ex. P7 0-12 2,10,000/- 28,00,000/- 44 months 40,32,000/- 25.5.1999 Ex. P8 0-7 1,35,000/- 30,85,714/- 41 months 43,50,854/- 16.8.1999 Ex. P9 0-8 1,50,000/- 30,00,000/- 43 months 42,90,000/- 21.6.1999 R.F.A. No. 463 of 2010 [ 6] Sale deeds produced by the State .............................................................................................................................................................. Sale deed/ Area Value Price per acre Difference of Price per acre after Date K M in ` period adding 12% p.a. in ` .......................................................................................................................................................... Ex. R3 0-8 54,000/- 11,80,000/- 20 months 12,96,000/- 23.5.2001 Ex. R4 0-4 25,000/- 10,00,000/- 34 months 13,40,000/- 1.3.2000 Ex. R5 0-4 25,000/- 10,00,000/- 34 months 13,40,000/- 1.3.2000 Ex R6 0-10 75,000/- 12,00,000/- 29 months 15,48,000/- 10.8.2000 Ex. R7 0-7 50,000/- 11,50,000/- 33 months 15,19,999/- 19.4.2000 Ex. R8 0-4 30,500/- 12,20,000/- 33 months 16,22,600/- 17.4.2000 Ex. R9 0-7 53,000/- 12,11,429/- 34 months 16,23,305/- 10.3.2000 A perusal of the aforesaid table shows that the average consideration paid in the sale deeds produced by the land owners is ` 38,56,758/- per acre. The area dealt with therein is ranging from 2 marlas to one kanal and one marla. As far as sale deeds produced by the State are concerned, the average consideration paid therein comes out to ` 14,71,200/- per acre and the area dealt with therein is ranging from 4 marlas to 10 marlas. The total acquired land is 139.40 acres. It cannot be said that the entire land was forming part of the municipal limits of Rewari, as there is no material on record on the basis of which such a finding could possibly be recorded. Considering the smallness of the area dealt with in the aforesaid sale deeds and the acquisition being a big chunk of land, in my opinion, a cut is certainly required to be applied. The learned court below in the present case, though has discussed the evidence produced on record by the parties, but without applying any scientific method or the principles of law, as have been enunciated by the courts, has awarded a sum of ` 20,00,000/- per acre as compensation. As has already been discussed above, the average sale consideration paid in the sale deeds produced by the State as well as the land owners, comes out to ` 26,63,979/- per acre. Considering the fact that the sale deeds produced by the land owners pertained to area measuring 2 marlas to one kanal and one marla, though in the same price range, in my opinion, with a conservative estimate, even if a cut of 25% R.F.A. No. 463 of 2010 [ 7] is applied, the value would come out to ` 19,97,984/- As the learned court below has already awarded 20,00,000/- per acre to the land owners and the State is not in appeal, I do not find any case has been made out for enhancement of compensation. Accordingly, the appeals are dismissed. ( Rajesh Bindal ) Judge December 09, 2010 mk