RFA No. 349 of 2011 (1) IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH RFA No. 349 of 2011 (O&M) Date of decision : 24.2.2011 State of Haryana and others ...Appellants vs Dharambir 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. 349 to 356 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 in these appeals. The bunch of appeals pertain to the valuation of land acquired for construction of Bass Multipurpose Channel vide notification dated 24.11.2004 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 Bass Akbarpur, Tehsil Hansi, District Hisar. Notification under Section 6 of the Act was issued on 8.2.2005. The Land Acquisition Collector (for short 'the Collector') vide award dated 20.12.2005 assessed the market value of the acquired land @ ` 5,00,000/- per acre. 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 @ ` 6,00,000/- per acre vide award dated 24.9.2010. Aggrieved against the award of the learned court below, the State is in appeal before this court. Learned Counsel for the State submitted that learned Court below has not given any reasoning while determining the amount of compensation payable for the acquired land. He further argued that the value of the land of each RFA No. 349 of 2011 (2) village is different keeping in view the location and other advantages. But in the present case, the learned court below without there being any site plan produced on record by the land owners assessed the compensation for the acquired land while relying upon award of village Bass Hajamshahpur. It is due to the policy of the State Government that the value of the land was determined @ ` 5,00,000/- per acre by the Collector, otherwise the value of the land in the area was not as such which was awarded by the learned court below. Heard learned counsel for the State and perused the paper-book. A perusal of the award of the learned court below shows that while determining the value of the acquired land, the learned court below had considered the value of the acquired land of neighbouring village which the Collector himself awarded to the landowners. Moreover, in number of cases, which came up for hearing before this court, a reference was made to the policy issued by the State Government dated 28.4.2005 regarding fixation of minimum rates in the State of Haryana. Thereafter vide memo dated 6.4.2007, the minimum rates as were fixed for acquisition of land were further revised. The relevant extract of policy dated 6.4.2007, is as under:- "Sub: Fixation of floor rates for the acquisition of land for public purpose in the State of Haryana. Ref: This Department Memo No. 2025-R-5-2005/4299, dated 28.4.2005. Vide this Department Memo. under reference, minimum floor rates for acquiring land for public purposes for various Departments as well as other State Agencies were fixed by the Haryana Government as follows: i) Minimum floor rate for urbanisable area of Gurgaon. Rs. 15.00 lacs per acre ii) Minimum floor rate for rest of the Haryana Sub-Region of NCR inlcuding Panchkula and area of Chandigarh periphery in the Haryana State. Rs.12.50 lacs per acre. iii) Minimum floor rate for the rest of the Haryana State. Rs. 05.00 lacs per acre. (These floor rates did not include the solatium and interest payable under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894). RFA No. 349 of 2011 (3) 2. Now it has been observed that with the passage of time market rates of the land have increased substantially. Therefore, Haryana Government has re-considered this matter and has decided to re-fix these floor rates as follows: i) Minimum floor rate for urbanisable area of Gurgaon. Rs. 20.00 lacs per acre ii) Minimum floor rate for rest of the Haryana Sub-Region of NCR inlcuding Panchkula and area of Chandigarh periphery in the Haryana State. Rs.16.00 lacs per acre. iii) Minimum floor rate for the rest of the Haryana State. Rs. 08.00 lacs per acre. 3. These floor rates do not include the solatium and interest payable under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. 4. These revised rates will be applicable on all those acquisitions where awards have been announced on or after 22.3.2007 irrespective of the date of notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894." Notification under Section 4 of the Act was issued on 24.11.2004. The policy regarding fixing ` 5,00,000/- minimum rates in the State of Haryana was issued on 28.4.2005. The award was announed by the Collector in the present case on 20.12.2005. There is gap of about eight months between the issuance of policy dated 28.4.2005 and the announcement of award by the Collector. Further, the acquisition in the present case was for the purpose of construction of Bass Multipurpose Channel. The landowners have not been awarded any amount on account of severance though their land has been divided into two parts. Considering the aforesaid factors, in my opinion, no case for interference is made out. Accordingly, the appeals are 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. 24.2.2011 (Rajesh Bindal) vs. Judge