IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH R.F.A. No. 340 of 1993 (O&M) Date of decision: 20.12.2011 Punjab State and others .. Appellants Vs. Lekh Raj (deceased) through LRs and another .. Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH BINDAL Present: Mr. Ashok Aggarwal, Advocate General, Punjab with Mr. Alok Jain, Addl. Advocate General, Punjab. Mr. R. S. Manhas, Advocate and Mr. Munish Puri, Advocate for Mr. Hemant Saini, Advocate, for the land owners. ... Rajesh Bindal J. This order will dispose of R.F.A. Nos. 340 to 344 and 378 of 1993, 1065, 2095, 2509 of 1997, 722 and 3626 of 1998 and 661 of 1999, as common questions of law and facts are involved. In the appeals filed by the State, the prayer is for reduction of compensation awarded to the land owners by the learned court below for the acquired land, whereas in the appeals filed by the land owners, the prayer is for enhancement thereof. Briefly, the facts of the case are that vide notification dated 27.2.1987, issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, `the Act'), State of Punjab sought to acquire land in villages Tikka Kattal Mouja Phangota; Drakua Bangla Tika Godown and Teeka Shamlat, Tehsil Pathankot, District Gurdaspur for construction of Ranjit Sagar Dam project. The same was followed by notification dated 30.9.1987, issued under Section 6 of the Act. The Land Acquisition Collector (for short, `the Collector'), vide award dated 29.3.1988, assessed compensation for village Tikka Kattal Mouja Phangota as under: Barani I ` 12,000/- per acre Barani II ` 11,000/- per acre Nehri ` 15,000/- per acre Abi ` 10,000/- per acre Banjar Kadim ` 6,000/- per acre Gairmumkin ` 3,000/- per acre Gairmumkin abadi ` 20,000/- per acre On reference under Section 18 of the Act, the learned court below assessed compensation @ ` 40,000/- per acre for chahi/nehri land; ` 35,000/- per acre for barani land; ` 80,000/-per acre for gair mumkin abadi land and ` 15,000/- per acre for banjar kadim and gair mumkin kind of land. For village Drakua Bangla Tika Godown, the Collector, assessed the compensation as under: Barani I ` 15,000/- per acre Barani II ` 12,000/- per acre Banjar Kadim ` 6,000/- per acre Abi ` 10,000/- per acre Gair mumkin ` 3,000/- per acre. On reference under Section 18 of the Act, the learned court below assessed compensation @ ` 40,000/- per acre for nehri/abi kind of land; ` 35,000/- per acre for barani kind of land and ` 15,000/- per acre for gair mumkin banjar kadim land. For village Teeka shamlat, the Collector assessed the compensation as under: Banjar Kadim ` 6,000/- per acre Gair mumkin ` 3,000/- per acre On reference under Section 18 of the Act, the learned court below assessed compensation @ ` 40,000/- per acre for nehri/abi kind of land; ` 35,000/- per acre for barani kind of land and ` 15,000/- per acre for gair mumkin banjar kadim land. Learned counsel for the State fairly submitted that the claim made by the land owners as well as the State in the present set of appeals is squarely covered by the judgment of this court in R.F.A. No. 1400 of 1991 –Makhan Singh vs. Punjab State and others, decided on 15.10.2010. Though the aforesaid fact is not disputed by learned counsel for the land owners, however, while referring to the documents annexed with the application filed for leading additional evidence, reliance is sought to be placed on the award pertaining to the land in the adjoining States of Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, which was also acquired for the same purpose. A perusal of the earlier order passed by this court in Makhan Singh's case (supra) shows that the aforesaid contention was considered by this court while deciding the said appeals, hence, this court would not like to deviate in the present set of appeals as well. For the detailed reasons recorded in Makhan Singh's case (supra), the appeals are disposed of in the same terms. ( Rajesh Bindal ) Judge 20.12.2011 mk