R.F.A. No. 1872 of 1993 [1] IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Date of decision: 15.7.2010 1 ) RFA No. 1872 of 1993 Inder Pal Singh .....Appellant Versus State of Haryana and another .....Respondents 2 ) RFA No. 1873 of 1993 Jitender Singh and others .....Appellants Versus State of Haryana and another .....Respondents 3 ) RFA No. 2671 of 1993 Land Acquisition Collector, Urban Estates, Haryana Gurgaon .....Appellant Versus Inder Pal Singh .....Respondent 4 ) RFA No. 2820 of 1993 Land Acquisition Collector, Urban Estates, Haryana Gurgaon .....Appellants Versus Jitender Singh and others .....Respondents 5 ) RFA No. 2552 of 1997 Matadin and others .....Appellants Versus Land Acquisition Collector, Sector 17, Urban Estate, Haryana and others .....Respondents R.F.A. No. 1872 of 1993 [2] 6 ) RFA No. 2553 of 1997 Babu Lal and another .....Appellants Versus Land Acquisition Collector, Sector 17, Urban Estate, Haryana and others .....Respondents 7 ) RFA No. 2554 of 1997 Bane Singh and others .....Appellants Versus Land Acquisition Collector, Sector 17, Urban Estate, Haryana and others .....Respondents 8 ) RFA No. 2555 of 1997 Smt. Rattan Mala and another .....Appellants Versus Land Acquisition Collector, Sector 17, Urban Estate, Haryana and others .....Respondents 9 ) RFA No. 2556 of 1997 Gopi Chand and others .....Appellants Versus Land Acquisition Collector, Sector 17, Urban Estate, Haryana and others .....Respondents 10 ) RFA No. 2557 of 1997 Nem Chand and others .....Appellants Versus Land Acquisition Collector, Sector 17, Urban Estate, Haryana and others .....Respondents R.F.A. No. 1872 of 1993 [3] 11 ) RFA No. 2650 of 1997 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Babu Lal and others .....Respondents 12 ) RFA No. 2651 of 1997 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Matadin and others .....Respondents 13 ) RFA No. 2652 of 1997 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Smt. Rattan Mala and others .....Respondents 14 ) RFA No. 2653 of 1997 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Gopi Chand and others .....Respondents 15 ) RFA No. 2654 of 1997 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Nem Chand and others .....Respondents 16 ) RFA No. 2655 of 1997 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Raj Kumar and others .....Respondents R.F.A. No. 1872 of 1993 [4] 17 ) RFA No. 100 of 1998 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Raghbir and others .....Respondents 18 ) RFA No. 105 of 1998 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Bane Singh and others .....Respondents 19 ) RFA No. 2134 of 1998 Raghbir and others .....Appellants Versus Land Acquisition Collector, Sector 17, Urban Estate, Haryana and others .....Respondents 20 ) RFA No. 2917 of 1998 Jai Narain .....Appellant Versus Land Acquisition Collector, Gurgaon and others .....Respondents 21 ) RFA No. 3700 of 1998 Subhash Chand and others .....Appellants Versus Land Acquisition Collector and others .....Respondents R.F.A. No. 1872 of 1993 [5] 22 ) RFA No. 314 of 1999 The State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Subhash Chand and others .....Respondents 23 ) RFA No. 315 of 1999 The State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Jai Narain and another .....Respondents 24 ) RFA No. 3586 of 2001 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Shamsher Singh and others .....Respondents 25 ) RFA No. 3587 of 2001 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Gulab Singh (deceased) through LRs and others .....Respondents 26 ) RFA No. 3588 of 2001 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Gram Panchayat and another .....Respondents R.F.A. No. 1872 of 1993 [6] 27 ) RFA No. 3589 of 2001 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Net Ram and another .....Respondents 28 ) RFA No. 3590 of 2001 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Man Parkash (deceased) through LRs and others .....Respondents 29 ) RFA No. 3591 of 2001 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Gram Panchyat and another .....Respondents 30 ) RFA No. 3592 of 2001 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Shivdeep Singh and others .....Respondents 31 ) RFA No. 3593 of 2001 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Ghanshayam and others .....Respondents 32 ) RFA No. 3594 of 2001 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Tej Singh and others .....Respondents R.F.A. No. 1872 of 1993 [7] 33 ) RFA No. 3595 of 2001 State of Punjab and another .....Appellants Versus Lal Bahadur and others .....Respondents 34 ) RFA No. 3596 of 2001 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Jai Ram and others .....Respondents 35 ) RFA No. 3597 of 2001 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Chander Bhan and another .....Respondents 36 ) RFA No. 3598 of 2001 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Prabhu Dayal and another .....Respondents 37 ) RFA No. 3599 of 2001 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Municipal Committee, Rewari and another .....Respondents 38 ) RFA No. 3600 of 2001 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Deen Dayal and another .....Respondents R.F.A. No. 1872 of 1993 [8] 39 ) RFA No. 3601 of 2001 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Nihal Singh and others .....Respondents 40 ) RFA No. 3602 of 2001 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Rati Ram and others .....Respondents 41 ) RFA No. 3603 of 2001 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Jaharia and others .....Respondents 42 ) RFA No. 3604 of 2001 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Pritam and others .....Respondents 43 ) RFA No. 3605 of 2001 and Cross Objection No. 12-CI of 2000 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Narinder Singh and others .....Respondents 44 ) RFA No. 3688 of 2001 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Kailash and others .....Respondents R.F.A. No. 1872 of 1993 [9] 45 ) RFA No. 3689 of 2001 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Jitender Singh and others .....Respondents 46 ) RFA No. 3690 of 2001 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Prithvi Singh and others .....Respondents 47 ) RFA No. 3691 of 2001 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Yag Dutt and another .....Respondents 48 ) RFA No. 5194 of 2001 Nihal Singh and others .....Appellants Versus Land Acquisition Collector, Urban Estate, Gurgaon and others .....Respondents 49 ) RFA No. 5195 of 2001 Kailash and others .....Appellants Versus Land Acquisition Collector, Urban Estate, Gurgaon and others .....Respondents 50 ) RFA No. 5196 of 2001 Jai Ram and others .....Appellants Versus Land Acquisition Collector, Urban Estate, Gurgaon and others .....Respondents R.F.A. No. 1872 of 1993 [10] 51 ) RFA No. 5197 of 2001 Yag Dutt .....Appellant Versus Land Acquisition Collector, Urban Estate, Gurgaon and others .....Respondents 52 ) RFA No. 5198 of 2001 Ghanshyam and others .....Appellants Versus Land Acquisition Collector, Urban Estate, Gurgaon and others .....Respondents 53 ) RFA No. 5199 of 2001 Randhir Singh and others .....Appellants Versus Land Acquisition Collector, Urban Estate, Gurgaon and others .....Respondents 54 ) RFA No. 5200 of 2001 Lal Bahadur and others .....Appellants Versus Land Acquisition Collector, Urban Estate, Gurgaon and others .....Respondents 55 ) RFA No. 5201 of 2001 Chander Bhan .....Appellant Versus Land Acquisition Collector, Urban Estate, Gurgaon and others .....Respondents 56 ) RFA No. 5202 of 2001 Pritam and others .....Appellants Versus Land Acquisition Collector, Urban Estate, Gurgaon and others .....Respondents R.F.A. No. 1872 of 1993 [11] 57 ) RFA No. 5780 of 2001 Parbhu Dayal .....Appellant Versus Land Acquisition Collector, Urban Estate, Gurgaon and others .....Respondents 58 ) RFA No. 242 of 2002 Net Ram .....Appellant Versus Land Acquisition Collector, Urban Estate, Gurgaon and others .....Respondents 59 ) RFA No. 2469 of 2002 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Parmeshwari and another ....Respondents 60 ) RFA No. 2898 of 2006 Raj Kumar .....Appellant Versus Land Acquisition Collector, Urban Estate, Gurgaon and others ....Respondents 61) RFA No. 3972 of 2006 State of Haryana and another .....Appellants Versus Raj Kumar and another .....Respondents R.F.A. No. 1872 of 1993 [12] CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH BINDAL Present: Mr. Shailendra Jain and Mr. Nitin Jain, Advocate for Mr. C. B. Goel, Advocate, Mr. M. L. Saini and Mr. Ajay Jain, Advocates for the land owners. Mr. D. D. Gupta, Additional Advocate General, Haryana. ... Rajesh Bindal J. This order will dispose of above mentioned 61 appeals, as common questions of law and facts are involved. R.F.A. Nos. 1872, 1873 of 1993, 2552 to 2557 of 1997, 2134, 2917, 3700 of 1998, 5194 to 5202, 5780 of 2001, 242 of 2002 and 2898 of 2006 have been filed by the land owners seeking further enhancement of compensation awarded by the learned court below for the acquired land. R.F.A. Nos. 2671, 2820 of 1993, 2650 to 2655 of 1997, 100, 105 of 1998, 314, 315 of 1999, 3586 to 3605, 3688 to 3691 of 2001, 2469 of 2002 and 3972 of 2006 have been filed by the State seeking reduction in the compensation for the acquired land. In R.F.A. Nos. 3605 of 2001, cross objections have been filed by the land owners seeking further enhancement of compensation for the acquired land. Briefly, the facts of the case are that vide notification dated 23.1.1990, issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, `the Act'), State of Haryana acquired the land situated in villages Dharuhera and Malpura, Tehsil and District Rewari for residential-cum-commercial area in Sector 6, `II' Dharuhera. The same was followed by notification dated 18.1.1991, issued under Section 6 of the Act. The Land Acquisition Collector (for short, `the Collector') awarded compensation @ ` 1,00,000/- per acre for chahi; ` 50,000/- per acre for Banjar Qadim and ` 75,000/- per acre for gair mumkin chahi land in village Dharuhera. For the land falling in the area of Malpura, the Collector awarded compensation @ ` 80,000/- per acre for chahi; ` 20,000/- per acre for Banjar Qadim and ` 20,000/- per acre for gair mumkin chahi land. 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 @ ` 90/- per square yard. Learned counsel for the land owners submitted that while determining the fair value of the acquired land, the learned court below relied upon R.F.A. No. 1872 of 1993 [13] the value determined for acquisition of land carried out at the same place for the same purpose vide notification dated 31.7.1985, where the value had been assessed at ` 60/- per square yard. Considering the fact that acquisition under consideration was vide notification dated 23.1.1990, increase @ 12% per annum was granted thereon and the compensation was assessed at ` 90/- per square yard. It was submitted that the issue regarding valuation of land vide notification dated 31.7.1985 was subject-matter of appeal before this Court in R.F.A No. 2075 of 1992 –State of Haryana v. Jaharia and others, decided on 25.1.2005, whereby this Court while relying upon an earlier judgment of Division Bench of this Court in L.P.A. No. 369 of 1996, decided on 5.2.1997, enhanced the same to ` 70/- per square yard. The submission is that once the value of the land, which was made the basis for determination of compensation in the case in hand has been further enhanced, the land owners herein are entitled to proportionate increase. On the other hand, learned counsel for the State could not dispute the fact that the learned court below had relied upon award dated 31.7.1985 pertaining to the acquisition for the same village and that the value thereof was further enhanced by this Court from ` 60/- to ` 70/- per square yard, however, it was submitted that this only should not be made the basis for determination of compensation for the acquired land. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the relevant referred record. The undisputed facts on record are that the learned court below while assessing the compensation for the acquired land had placed reliance upon the earlier award pertaining to the acquisition carried in the same village vide notification dated 31.7.1985 and granted further increase thereon @ 12% per annum for the time gap in the two notifications, the same having been issued in the present case on 23.1.1990 and determined the compensation at ` 90/- per square yard. Even for the land pertaining to village Malpura also, same amount of compensation was granted as was for village Dharuhera, considering the fact that both are situated in close proximity and the current value as well as future potential of both was similar. Another fact, which is not in dispute, is that in Jaharia's case (supra) relying upon a judgment of Division Bench of this Court dated 5.2.1997 in LPA No. 369 of 1996, this court had further enhanced the compensation payable for the land acquired vide notification dated 31.7.1985 from ` 60/- to ` 70/- per square yard. Once the value of the land, which was made basis for determination of compensation in the present case was further enhanced, in my opinion, the land owners in the present case are entitled to corresponding increase R.F.A. No. 1872 of 1993 [14] in the compensation payable to them. As is evident from the aforesaid facts, the increase which was granted on ` 60/- per square yard was 50% while determining the compensation payable for the acquisition of land in the present case at ` 90/- per square yard. ` 60/- having been enhanced to ` 70/- per square yard, adding 50% thereon, the amount of compensation would come out to ` 105/- per square yard., which shall be the amount of compensation payable to the land owners for the land in question, as against ` 90/- per square yard awarded by the learned court below. The land owners shall also be entitled to all statutory benefits available to them under the Act. In view of the aforesaid discussion, the appeals and cross objections filed by the land owners are accepted and that of the State are dismissed. (Rajesh Bindal) Judge 15.7.2010 mk