RFA No. 1865 of 1989 (1) In the High Court of Punjab & Haryana at Chandigarh Date of decision : 4.10.2010 1. RFA No. 1865 of 1989 (O&M) Dharam Parkash ..... Appellant vs The State of Punjab and another .... Respondents 2. RFA No. 1866 of 1989 (O&M) Dharam Parkash ..... Appellant vs The State of Punjab and another .... Respondents Coram: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Rajesh Bindal Present: Mr. K. L. Suneja, Advocate, for the appellant. Mr. Yatinder Sharma, Deputy Advocate General, Punjab. Rajesh Bindal J. The landowner has filed the aforesaid appeals seeking enhancement of compensation for the acquired land. Briefly, the facts are that vide notification dated 13.8.1982 issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, “the Act”), State of Punjab acquired land situated within the revenue estate of villages Thara Uperla and Teeka Bhatti, Tehsil Pathankot, District Gurdaspur, for construction of Railway and Stock Pile Area for Thein Dam Project, Shahpur Kandi. The Land Acquisition Collector (for short, `the Collector') vide award dated 1.12.1982 assessed the market value of the acquired land as under:- Kind of land Amount awarded in ` Barani-I 7,000/- per acre Barani-II 6,000/- per acre Barani-III 5,000/- per acre Banjar Qadim 3,000/- per acre Gair Mumkin 1,500/- per acre Gair Mumkin Abadi 7,000/- per acre Aggrieved against the award of the Collector, the land owners filed objections. On reference, the learned court below vide award dated 27.3.1989, dismissed the claim of the appellant. It is this award of the learned Reference RFA No. 1865 of 1989 (2) Court which is impugned in the present set of appeals. Learned counsel for the appellant submitted that the evidence produced on record by the landowners has not been considered by the learned court below. His claim has been wrongly rejected. It was submitted that village Thara Uprala is on Dhar-Udhampur-Road. All basic facilities like school, bank, hospital were located in the village. But the court had not assessed the compensation as per the location of the land. It was also submitted that the learned court below has further committed an error by dividing Barani kind of land into sub-classifications. There was no reason for its division into three sub-categories. The submission was that fair value of the acquired land be assessed in terms of the evidence led and the value of the entire land be assessed at a uniform rate. On the other hand, learned counsel for the State submitted that no fault can be found with the award of the court below. The categorization of the land was done as per the entries in the revenue records. The court below had rightly upheld the award of the Collector as the same was just and fair. The submission was for dismissal of the appeals. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the relevant referred record. As far as the determination of market value of the acquired land is concerned, there is no evidence on the record to opine that the value as assessed by the Collector and further upheld by the court below is not just and fair. The sale- deeds, Ex. A-2 and Ex. A-3, placed on record by the landowner are not related to the land of village in question but are of village Teeka Salwal, which even as per the witness of the landowner himself was located at a distance of 2 kilometers. The award dated 20.1.1988, Ex. A-4, has also been rightly ignored by the court below as the same was of land acquired in village Teeka Salwal in the year 1985. The land in the present case was acquired vide notification dated 13.8.1982. As there was no such evidence by which it could be opined that the market value of the acquired land was much more than what was determined by the Collector so no illegality was committed by the learned court below in dismissing the reference on this ground. As far as the division of the barani kind of land into sub- classification is concerned, there is nothing on record to show that one type of land can be further bifurcated. I do not find any justification to divide barani kind of land in three different categories for the purpose of its valuation. The same in the facts and circumstances of the case deserves to be set aside. Accordingly, the sub- classification of Barani kind of land, into Barani-I, Barani-II, and Barani-II, is set RFA No. 1865 of 1989 (3) aside and the entire barani land is assessed at a uniform rate of ` 7,000/- per acre. The landowners shall also be entitled to all statutory benefits available under the Act. The award of the learned court below is modified to the extent mentioned above. 4.10.2010 (Rajesh Bindal) vs. Judge