RFA No. 3010 of 2011 (1) IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH RFA No. 3010 of 2011 (O&M) Date of decision : 27.5.2011 State of Haryana and others ...Appellants vs Krishan and others ...Respondents Coram : Hon'ble Mr. Justice Rajesh Bindal Present: Mr. D. D. Gupta, Additional Advocate General, Haryana. Rajesh Bindal, J. This order shall dispose of appeals bearing RFA Nos. 3010, 3044 to 3059 of 2011, filed by the State of Haryana, seeking reduction of compensation awarded to the landowners for the acquired land, as common questions of law and facts are involved therein. The bunch of appeals pertain to the valuation of land acquired for construction of Hisar Ghaggar Multipurpose Channel vide notification dated 17.11.2003 issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short 'the Act') by the State of Haryana, situated within the revenue estate of village Daroli, District Hisar. Notification under Section 6 of the Act was issued on 19.11.2003. The Land Acquisition Collector (for short 'the Collector') vide award dated 25.11.2004 assessed the market value of the acquired land @ ` 1,40,000/- per acre for nehri and ` 1,00,000/- per acre for Tal kind of land. The land owners being dissatisfied with the award of the Collector filed objections which were referred to the learned Court below. On reference under Section 18 of the Act, the learned Court below assessed the compensation of the acquired land @ ` 3,50,000/- per acre. Aggrieved against the award of the learned court below, the State is in appeal before this court. RFA No. 3010 of 2011 (2) A perusal of the impugned award shows that the award by the Collector in the present case was announced on 25.11.2004. The learned court below placing reliance upon its earlier award, Ex. P-8, pertaining to the acquisition of land for the same purpose of village Chuli Khurd, assessed the market value of the acquired land @ ` 3,50,000/- per acre. In number of cases, which came up for hearing before this court, a reference was made to the policy dated 28.4.2005 framed by the Government in terms of which for the awards announced on or after 5.3.2005, the minimum rates for the acquisition of land in the State of Haryana, was fixed at ` 5,00,000/- per acre. The award in the present case was announced by the Collector on 25.11.2004, about five months earlier to the issuance of policy dated 28.4.2005. The aforesaid policy letter, in my opinion, can be considered as a piece of evidence for the reason that the process to frame a policy starts in advance, finalisation thereof takes time. Learned counsel for the State had further not been able to point out that as to whether the award, Ex. P-8, which has been relied upon by the learned court below, was challenged by the State any further or not. Considering the aforesaid factors, in my opinion, no case for interference is made out. Accordingly, the appeals are dismissed. Consequently, the accompanying applications are also dismissed. However, it is made clear that dismissal of appeals filed by the State will not affect the merits of the appeal of the landowners, in case filed by them. The same shall be considered independently. 27.5.2011 (Rajesh Bindal) vs. Judge