In the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh CWP No. 1757 of 1988 Date of decision: 28.4.2008 Kundan Lal and others ......Petitioners Versus Land Acquisition Collector, Improvement Trust, Ludhiana and others .......Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE SABINA Present: Mr.O.P.Goyal, Sr. Advocate with Ms.Priya Khurana, Advocate, for the petitioners. **** JUDGMENT SABINA, J. The petitioners have filed this petition seeking quashing of orders Annexure P-12 and P-13 dated 6.7.1987 and for issuance of a writ of Mandamus directing respondent No.1 to re-determine the amount of compensation of the land belonging to the petitioners on the basis of the award given by the President, Land Acquisition Tribunal, Improvement Trust, Ludhiana (hereinafter referred to as 'the Tribunal) in the land acquisition case No.96 of 1984 titled 'Chand Rattan v. Improvement Trust, Ludhiana etc.' and case No.95 of 1979 titled 'Rajinder Kaur v. Land Acquisition Collector and others' on 13.8.1986. The case of the petitioners, as stated in the writ petition, in brief, is that the petitioners owned land in village Haibowal Khurd CWP No. 1757 of 1988 -2- (hereinafter referred to as 'the village'), State Government on behalf of the Tribunal, issued notification on 8.8.1976 under Section 36 of the Punjab Town Improvement Trust Act, 1922 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') seeking to acquire 256 acres of land of the village for development scheme known as 256 Acres Development Scheme. Sanction was accorded by the Government on 24.11.1978 under Section 42 of the Act. In pursuance of the notification published on 8.11.1973 under Section 36 of the Act, the State Government sought to acquire 24 acres of land located in the same village for development scheme known as 24 Acres Development Scheme and sanction was accorded by the Government on 20.10.1976 under Section 42 of the Act. Land of the petitioners was covered under the 256 Acres Development Scheme. Award No.1 of 1980-81 was pronounced by the Collector on 12.6.1980 for the 256 Acres Development Scheme and Award No.8 of 1978-79 was pronounced by the Land Acquisition Collector on 5.1.1979 relating to 24 Acres Development Scheme. The land owners filed references under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act for the enhancement of compensation against both the awards. 252 kanals 12 marlas of land was in the name of “Jumla Malkan” (proprietary body) of the village. The share of the petitioners, being members of the proprietary body, in the said land was to the extent of 27 kanals 14 marlas with regard to the land acquired under 256 acres and 24 Acres Development Schemes. The petitioners alongwith other members of the proprietary body, who had share in the joint land, filed petitions for apportionment of compensation CWP No. 1757 of 1988 -3- under Section 31 of the Land Acquisition Act. The shares of the respective claimants were determined under Section 31 (2) of the Land Acquisition Act and statements in this regard were issued by the Revenue Patwari. The relevant statements with regard to the petitioners have been attached as Annexures P-1 to P-5. The Tribunal enhanced the compensation with regard to the land acquired under 256 Acres Development Scheme vide award dated 21.5.1986 (Annexure P-8) and with regard to the land acquired under 24 Acres Development Scheme, compensation was enhanced vide award dated 13.8.1986 (Annexure P-9). The joint land was also part of the land regarding which the compensation amount was enhanced by the Tribunal. The petitioners filed two separate applications dated 24.9.1986 (Annexure P-10) and 25.9.1986 (Annexure P-11) under Section 28-A of the Land Acquisition Act for redetermination of the amount of compensation on the basis of the awards Annexures P-8 and P-9. The petitioners also placed on record copies of the jamabandi showing their share in the joint land. However, respondent No.1 dismissed the applications vide orders Annexures P-12 and P-13 dated 6.7.1987. Hence the present petition. I have heard learned counsel for the petitioners and have gone through the record of this case. Learned counsel for the petitioners has argued that respondent No.1 had erred in dismissing the applications. The petitioners had placed on record the revenue record showing their share in the joint land and on the basis of the same, the petitioners CWP No. 1757 of 1988 -4- were entitled to receive compensation under Section 28-A of the Land Acquisition Act. As per Annexure P-1, share of petitioner No.1 in the joint land is 12 kanals 2 marlas. As per Annexure P-2, share of petitioners No. 2 to 5 in the joint land is 7 kanals 2 marlas. As per Annexure P-3, share of petitioner No.6 in the joint land is 1 kanal and 2 marlas. As per Annexure P-4, share of petitioners No.7 and 8 in the joint land is 1 kanal 2 marls. As per Annexure P-5, share of petitioners No.9 to 12 in the joint land is 6 kanals 6 marlas. The share of the petitioners in the joint land to this extent is also reflected in Annexure P-6, which is the separate share of joint owners in the village. A perusal of Annexure P-7 reveals that before the Tribunal, the statements furnished by Revenue Patwari regarding sham lat land of the village were not challenged by the claimants and it was ordered that the said statements shall form part of the award. Thus the share of the land owners in the joint land were submitted before the Tribunal by the Revenue Patwari. Respondent No.1 has rejected the references on the ground that the petitioners had failed to place on record the copies of the sale deed in respect of their ownership in the joint land. He has further observed that the petitioners were not recorded as co-sharers in the joint land, as per the record of consolidation. Section 28-A of the Land Acquisition Act is reproduced herein below: “28-A (1) Where in an award under this Part, the Court allows to the applicant any amount of compensation in excess of the amount awarded by the Collector under CWP No. 1757 of 1988 -5- Section 11, the persons interested in all the other land covered by the same notification under Section 4, Sub- Section (1) and who are also aggrieved by the award of the Collector may, notwithstanding that they had not made an application to the Collector under Section 18, by written application to the Collector within three months from the date of the award of the Court require that the amount of compensation payable to them may be re- determined on the basis of the amount of compensation awarded by the Court: Provided that in computing the period of three months within which an application to the Collector shall be made under this sub-Section the day on which the award was pronounced and the time requisite for obtaining a copy of the award shall be excluded. (2) The Collector shall, on receipt of an application under Sub-Section (1), conduct an inquiry after giving notice to all the persons interested and giving them a reasonable opportunity of being heard, and make an award determining the amount of compensation payable to the applicants. (3) Any person who has not accepted the award under the Sub-Section (2) may, by written application to the Collector, require that the matter be referred by the Collector for the determination of the Court and the provisions of the Section 18 to 28 shall so far as may be, CWP No. 1757 of 1988 -6- apply to such reference as they apply to a reference under Section 18.” Thus interested persons can take benefit under the provisions of Section 28-A of the Land Acquisition Act, whose land has been acquired by the Tribunal. From Annexures P-1 to P-6, which are the statements of the share of the petitioners in the joint land prepared by the Revenue Patwari, it is evident that the petitioners have share in the joint land and are, thus, interested persons, as envisaged under Section 28-A of the Act. Respondent No.1 had, thus, erred in rejecting the references under Section 28-A of the Act. Accordingly this writ petition is allowed. The orders Annexures P-12 and P-13 dated 6.7.1987 are quashed and respondent No.1 is directed to decide the references afresh for redetermination of the amount of compensation of the land of the petitioners on the basis of awards dated 21.5.1986 and 13.8.1986 (Annexures P-12 and P-13 respectively.) (SABINA) JUDGE 28.4.2008 anita