RFA No. 48 of 1994 (O&M) (1) In the High Court of Punjab & Haryana at Chandigarh RFA No. 48 of 1994 (O&M) Date of decision : 28.7.2010 State of Haryana and another ..... Appellants vs Shiv Singh (deceased) through LRs and others .... Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH BINDAL Present: Mr. Ashish Gupta, Assistant Advocate General, Haryana. Rajesh Bindal J. The State of Haryana has filed the aforesaid appeal before this court against the award of the learned court below passed under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, 'the Act') seeking reduction of compensation for the acquired land. Briefly, the facts are that State of Haryana vide notification dated 8.6.1987, issued under Section 4 of the Act, acquired land in the revenue estate of village Bhuna, Tehsil Fatehabad, District Hisar, for the establishment of New Grain Market, office building, staff quarters, rest house and gadda shed, etc. at Bhuna. The Land Acquisition Collector (for short, `the Collector'), vide award dated 20.7.1988 assessed the market value of the land @ ` 80,000/- per acre. Dissatisfied with the award of the Collector, the land owners filed objections. On reference under Section 18 of the Act, learned court below determined the market value of the acquired land @ ` 1,40,000/- per acre. It is this award which is impugned in the present appeal. Learned counsel for the State submitted that the learned court below has not appreciated the evidence produced by State on record to determine the fair value of the acquired land. It was submitted that the acquired land was used for agricultural purposes and not situated on metaled road as stated by the landowners. It was also submitted that the land is about half kilometre away from the commercial place. It was also submitted that the learned court below should not have relied upon the sale deeds, as were produced by the landowners as they do not show the fair value of the land in the area. It was also submitted that the sale- deeds produced by the State should be considered and the award of the Collector be upheld and that of the court below be set aside. Heard learned counsel for the appellants and perused the relevant referred record. RFA No. 48 of 1994 (O&M) (2) A perusal of the award of the learned court below show that the court below while assessing the market value of the acquired land had considered sale- deed dated 9.4.1987, Ex. P-7, vide which land measuring 10 marlas was sold for a consideration of ` 21,000/-. The average price of which comes to ` 3,36,000/- per acre. The relevancy of this sale-deed was not disputed by the State. Moreover, while assessing the market value of the acquired land, the court below has applied 1/4th cut as the land sold vide, Ex. P7, was not on the road and assessed the market value @ 1,40,000/- per acre. As far as sale-deeds, Ex. R-14 to Ex. R-18, are concerned, these are registered after the issuance of notification under Section 4 of the Act was issued on 8.6.1987, whereas the sale-deed, Ex. P7, is 9.4.1987. In so far as sale-deeds, Ex. R11 to Ex. R13 are concerned, as has been rightly observed by the court below that the same were apparently registered at a low price to save the stamp duty. No other point was argued. For the reasons mentioned above, the appeal is dismissed. 28.7.2010 ( Rajesh Bindal) vs. Judge