R.F.A. No. 1791 of 1988 [1] IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH (1) R.F.A. No. 1791 of 1988 Date of decision: September 19 , 2008 The State of Punjab .. Appellant v. Chanan Singh (Died) through L.Rs. .. Respondents (2) R.F.A. No. 1792 of 1988 The State of Punjab .. Appellant v. Smt. Sadan Kaur and another .. Respondents (3) R.F.A. No. 1793 of 1988 The State of Punjab .. Appellant v. Naib Singh and others .. Respondents (4) R.F.A. No. 1794 of 1988 The State of Punjab .. Appellant v. Chand Singh and another .. Respondents (5) R.F.A. No. 1795 of 1988 The State of Punjab .. Appellant v. Harpal Singh and others .. Respondents (6) R.F.A. No. 1796 of 1988 The State of Punjab .. Appellant v. Baldev Singh and others .. Respondents R.F.A. No. 1791 of 1988 [2] (7) R.F.A. No. 1797 of 1988 The State of Punjab .. Appellant v. Major Singh .. Respondent (8) R.F.A. No. 1798 of 1988 The State of Punjab .. Appellant v. Ajaib Singh and others .. Respondents (9) R.F.A. No. 1799 of 1988 The State of Punjab .. Appellant v. Kartar Singh .. Respondent (10) R.F.A. No. 77 of 1989 Kartar Singh .. Appellant v. The State of Punjab .. Respondent (11) R.F.A. No. 444 of 1991 Harpal Singh and others .. Appellants v. Punjab State .. Respondent (12) R.F.A. No. 1717 of 1991 Chand Singh and another .. Appellant v. The State of Punjab .. Respondent R.F.A. No. 1791 of 1988 [3] (13) R.F.A. No. 1718 of 1991 Avtar Singh and another .. Appellants v. The State of Punjab .. Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH BINDAL Present: Mr. B.B.S. Teji, Assistant Advocate General, Punjab for the State. None for the land owners. Rajesh Bindal J. This order shall dispose of a bunch of 13 appeals as the same arise out of one acquisition. R.F.A. Nos. 1791 to 1799 of 1988 have been filed by the State for reduction of compensation awarded by the learned Court below, whereas R.F.A. Nos. 77 of 1989, 444, 1717 and 1718 of 1991 have been filed by the land owners seeking enhancement of compensation. Briefly, the facts are that land measuring 22.63 acres situated in the area of Village Gulabewala, Hadbast No. 132, Tehsil Muktsar, District Faridkot was acquired vide notification dated 22.3.1984 issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, `the Act') for construction of Marh Malu drain. The same was followed by notification dated 5.4.1984 issued under Section 6 of the Act. The Collector gave award of Rs. 6,580/- per acre for chahi/nehri land; Rs. 6,400/- per acre for barani land and Rs. 6,000/- per acre for ghair mumkin land. Aggrieved against the same, the land owners filed objections which were referred to the learned Additional District Judge, Faridkot, who keeping in view the material placed on record by the parties, awarded Rs. 7,500/- per acre for chahi/nehri land; Rs. 6,400/- per acre for barani land and Rs. 6,000/- per acre for ghair- mumkin kind of land. Heard learned counsel for the State and perused the record. The land owners in the present case produced three sale deeds (Ex. A.1, A.2 and A.7), the details of which are as under: Sr. No. Ex. Date of Area sold Value execution .................................................................................................................................................................... 1. Ex. A1 24.6.1982 28K 5 M Rs. 35,000/- R.F.A. No. 1791 of 1988 [4] 2. Ex. A.2 23.6.1982 29 K 5 M Rs. 35,000/- 3. Ex. A.3 9.7.1982 40 K 10 M Rs. 45,565/- The average sale consideration of the aforesaid sale deeds, as determined by the learned Court below comes out to Rs. 9474.33 per acre. Relying thereon, the learned Court below awarded a sum of Rs. 7,500/- per acre for nehri/chahi land, whereas for barani/ghair mumkin land, the award of the Collector was upheld. A perusal of the material on record shows that three sale deeds, relied upon by the land owners, are for a large chunk of land measuring 20 kanals and 40 kanals. The transactions were entered into about two years prior to the date of acquisition. For this time gap, a sum of 15% can safely be added over and above the sale consideration shown in the sale deeds, the genuineness of which has not been doubted. Accordingly, while adding a sum of Rs. 1,500/- in the value of the land, in my considered opinion, it would be reasonable to hold that the value of the acquired land should be assessed at Rs. 9,000/- per acre. As far as the categorisation done by the Collector and also by the learned Court below, I do not subscribe to that view and, in my opinion, the entire land, which was acquired for the purpose of construction of a drain running through the fields acquiring small portions of land of many land owners, should be valued at Rs. 9,000/- per acre. The land owners shall also be entitled to all other statutory benefits available to them in terms of the provisions of the Act. In view of my above discussion, the appeals filed by the land owners are accepted, whereas the appeals filed by the State are dismissed. (Rajesh Bindal) Judge September 19 ,2008 mk