R.F.A. No. 212 of 1999 [ 1] IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH R.F.A. No. 212 of 1999 (O&M) Date of decision: 30.5.2011 State of Haryana .. Appellant v. Ramesh Kumar .. Respondent CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH BINDAL Present: Mr. Anjum Ahmed, Additional Advocate General, Haryana. Mr. Jagdish Manchanda, Advocate for the land owners. ... Rajesh Bindal J. This order will dispose of R.F.A. Nos. 212 to 220, 222 and 223 of 1999 and cross objections No. 81-CI to 87-CI and 89-CI to 91-CI of 1999, as common questions of law and facts are involved. In the appeals filed by the State, the prayer is for reduction of compensation awarded to the land owners, whereas in the cross-objections, the land owners are seeking further enhancement of compensation for the acquired land. The facts have been extracted from R.F.A. No. 212 of 1999. Briefly, the facts of the case are that vide notification dated9.4.1986, published on 13.5.1986, issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, `the Act'), State of Haryana sought to acquire 15.52 acres of land, situated in village Guldehra, Hadbast No. 54, Tehsil Pehowa, District Kurukshetra for construction of road from village Gumthala Garhu to village Bhagal. The same was followed by R.F.A. No. 212 of 1999 [ 2] notification dated 5.2.1987, published on 10.3.1987, issued under Section 6 of the Act. The Land Acquisition Collector (for short, `the Collector') assessed the market value of the acquired land as under: Kind of land Rates per acre 1. Chahi Nehri and Ghair Mumkin Bara ` 25,120/- 2. Ghair Mumkin Sarak ` 20,000/- 3. Ghair Mumkin Panjawa, Ghair Mumkin Bhatha, Ghair Mumkin Chamara Rangna ` 15,040/- Ki Jagah and Gahri Mumkin Talab 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 irrespective of any category @ ` 25,000/- per acre. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the relevant referred record. As far as the appeals filed by the State are concerned, considering the fact that notification under Section 4 of the Act was issued more than two decades back; small-small portion of land owned by various land owners was acquired for the purpose of construction of road and the learned court below had merely enhanced the compensation pertaining to the categories other than Chahi and Nehri kind of land and the amount was increased from ` 15,040/- and ` 20,000/- per acre to ` 25,000/- per acre, I do not find any reason to interfere with the impugned award at this stage. Accordingly, the appeals filed by the State are dismissed. As far as the cross objections filed by the land owners are concerned, the same also require to be dismissed, as there is no sale deed produced on record by the land owners. The only evidence sought to be referred is award mark `A' dated 4.5.1991, which was produced by the land owners at the time of arguments before the court below. It is an award announced by the Collector for acquisition of land for the purpose of construction of road from village Galedwa to village Guldehra, whereas the land in the present case was acquired for construction of road from Gumthala Garhu to village Bhagal, though pertaining to revenue estate of R.F.A. No. 212 of 1999 [ 3] village Guldehra. There is no site plan on record to show the location of two portions of land. In the absence thereof, no reliance can be placed on the aforesaid award. There being no other evidence on record, no case for enhancement is made out. Accordingly, the cross objections are also dismissed. A perusal of the paper book shows that for the land described as Chahi, Nehri and Gair Mumkin Bara, the Collector had awarded a sum of ` 25,120/- per acre as compensation, whereas the learned court below irrespective of the category of land had awarded the compensation @ ` 25,000/- per acre. In terms of the provisions of Section 25 of the Act, the amount of compensation awarded by the court below cannot be less than the amount awarded by the Collector. Therefore, as far as the aforesaid category of land is concerned, for which the Collector had awarded compensation @ ` 25,120/- per acre, the amount of compensation cannot be reduced. Accordingly, the same is increased to ` 25,120/- per acre. For other categories of land, the award of the learned court below is upheld. The appeals as well as the cross objections are disposed of accordingly. (Rajesh Bindal) Judge 30.5.2011 mk