R.F.A. No. 1079 of 1995 [1] IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH R.F.A. No. 1079 of 1995 (O&M) Date of decision: 13.1.2011 Subhash Khanna .. Appellant v. Union of India and others .. Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH BINDAL Present: Mr. Raghujeet Singh Madan, Advocate for the land owners. Mr. Brijeshwar Singh Kanwar, Advocate for Union of India. ... Rajesh Bindal J. This order will dispose of R.F.A. Nos. 1079 of 1995, 454 to 456, 1518 and 1519 of 1997, as common questions of law and facts are involved. The land owners are in appeal seeking further enhancement of compensation for the acquired land. The facts have been extracted from R.F.A. No. 1079 of 1995. Briefly, the facts of the case are that vide notification dated 16.11.1988, issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, `the Act'), State of Punjab sought to acquire 642 kanals and 19 marlas of land, situated in the revenue estate of village Mehal Singh Wala for stationing a New Border Security Force Battalion at village Mehal Singh Wala, Tehsil and Distrit Ferozepur. Vide another notification dated 31.1.1990, issued under Section 4 of the Act, State of Punjab sought to acquire 82 kanals and 4 marlas of land in the same village for the same purpose. The Land Acquisition Collector (for short, `the Collector'), vide R.F.A. No. 1079 of 1995 [2] his award dated 19.7.1991, assessed the market value of the acquired land @ ` 65,000/- per acre for Chahi and Chahi Nehri and ` 70,000/- per acre for land adjoining the road and abadi within one acre. Dissatisfied with the award of the Collector, the land owners filed objections. On reference under Section 18 of the Act, the learned court below upheld the award of the Collector. It is this award, which is impugned before this court. Learned counsel for the land owners submitted that the learned court below has failed to appreciate the evidence produced on record by them. The sale deeds have been totally ignored in spite of the fact that two of them were part of the acquired land and were registered well before the acquisition of land. The genuineness thereof was not in dispute. The area dealt with therein was also not very small. Even other sale deeds produced on record by the land owners, which are also pertaining to the land in the vicinity show that prices of the land in the area were in the same line. He further submitted that vide sale deed (Ex. A1), 3 kanals and 19 marlas of land was sold for ` 35,000/- at an average price of ` 70,886/- per acre and vide sale deed (Ex. A2), 3 kanals and 14 marlas of land was sold for ` 33,000/- at an average price of ` 71,351/- per acre. Both were registered in August, 1987 and the notification under Section 4 of the Act in the present case having been issued on 16.11.1988 at the first place and 31.1.1990 at the second place, the land owners should be awarded increase @ 12% per annum thereon. The area dealt with in the aforesaid sale deeds being not very small, the same can be relied upon as such without applying any cut. The location of the land is on Ferozepur-Fazilka Highway. It is located on both sides thereof. It had great future potentiality. The area close by was already developed. Even the village abadi was also not far off. On the other hand, learned counsel for the respondents submitted that the award of the Collector in the present case was quite reasonable and the same was rightly not interfered with by the learned court below. The sale deeds produced on record cannot be considered as such. The location thereof has not been shown on any site plan. There is nothing on record to suggest that the area in the vicinity was already developed or was developing. However, he did not dispute the fact that the same is located on both sides of Ferozepur-Fazilka road. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the relevant R.F.A. No. 1079 of 1995 [3] referred record. The location of the acquired land is evident from the site plan (Ex. A-5) produced on record. Khasra No. 8//16/2 was dealt with in sale deed (Ex. A1), which is forming part of the acquired land and located close to the canal. Vide this sale deed dated 4.8.1987, 3 kanals and 19 marlas of land was sold for a sum of ` 35,000/- at an average price of ` 70,886/- per acre. Khasra number dealt with in sale deed (Ex. A2) is 12//3/2. It was registered on 6.8.1987 for a consideration of ` 33,000/- at an average price of ` 71,351/- per acre. It is also part of the acquired land. The average of both would come out to ` 71,118/- per acre. The area dealt with in both the sale deeds is not very small that these can be relied upon as such for the purpose of assessment of fair value of the acquired land considering the fact that even the land holding of various owners would also be small. The amount of compensation, as has been assessed by the Collector, is ` 65,000/- per acre for Chahi and Chahi Nehri land and ` 70,000/- per acre for land adjoining the road and abadi within one acre. The aforesaid two sale deeds, pertaining to land located off the road, were registered more than one year prior to the issuance of notification under Section 4 of the Act on 16.11.1988. For the time gap also, the land owners deserve certain increase. Considering that fact, in my opinion, it would be appropriate to award compensation to the land owners @ ` 70,000/- per acre as against ` 65,000/- per acre for Chahi and Chahi Nehri kind of land and ` 75,000/- per acre as against ` 70,000/- per acre for land adjoining the road and abadi within one acre. The land owners shall also be entitled to all the statutory benefits available to them under the Act. The aforesaid would be the compensation for the land acquired vide notification dated 16.11.1988. For the land acquired in the vicinity vide notification dated 31.1.1990, the land owners are certainly entitled to increase @ 12% per annum for the time gap in two notifications. Accordingly, while adding the aforesaid amount as against ` 70,000/- per acre for Chahi and Chahi Nehri kind of land, the land owners shall be paid ` 80,000/- per acre and for other kind of land, the land owners shall be entitled to ` 85,500/- per acre. They shall also be entitled to all the statutory benefits available to them under the R.F.A. No. 1079 of 1995 [4] Act. Hon'ble the Supreme Court in Civil Appeal No. 6515 of 2009 – Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation v. Pran Sukh and others, decided on 17.8.2010, to ensure that the landowners are not fleeced by the middleman in the process of disbursement of enhanced compensation, issued certain directions. I deem it appropriate to issue same directions in the present set of appeals as well. The same are as under: “With a view to ensure that the land owners are not fleeced by the middleman, we deem it appropriate to issue following further directions: (i) The Land Acquisition Collector shall depute officers subordinate to him not below the rank of Naib Tehsildar, who shall get in touch with all the land owners and/or their legal representatives and inform them about their entitlement and right to receive enhanced compensation. (ii) The concerned officers shall also instruct the land owners and/or their legal representatives to open savings bank account in case they already do not have such account. (iii) The bank account numbers of the land owners should be given to the Land Acquisition Collector within three months. (iv) The Land Acquisition Collector shall deposit the cheques of compensation in the bank accounts of the land owners.” The appeals are disposed of in the manner indicated above. ( Rajesh Bindal ) Judge 13.1.2011 mk ` R.F.A. No. 1079 of 1995 [5]