RFA No. 5288 of 2009 (1) IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH RFA No. 5288 of 2009 (O&M) Date of decision : 10.5.2011 State of Haryana ...Appellant vs Joga Singh and another ...Respondents Coram : Hon'ble Mr. Justice Rajesh Bindal Present: Mr. D. D. Gupta, Additional Advocate General, Haryana. Mr. Sanjay Verma, Advocate, for the landowners, in RFA Nos. 5288 to 5293, 5295, 5296 of 2009. Rajesh Bindal, J. This order shall dispose of appeals bearing RFA Nos. 5288 to 5296, 5327 of 2009, as common questions of law and facts are involved therein. By filing appeals, State of Haryana is seeking reduction of compensation awarded to the landowners for the acquired land. The bunch of appeals pertain to the valuation of land acquired for construction of Meerapur Choe Drains for which notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short 'the Act') was issued by the State of Haryana on 4.6.2004. The land is situated within the revenue estate of village Jodhura, Hadbast No. 27, Tehsil Guhla, District Kaithal. Notification under Section 6 of the Act was issued on 16.6.2004. The Land Acquisition Collector (for short 'the Collector') vide award dated 6.5.2005 assessed the market value of the acquired land @ ` 2,00,000/- 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 @ ` 4,50,000/- per acre. Aggrieved against the award of the learned court below, the State is in appeal before this court. RFA No. 5288 of 2009 (2) Learned counsel for the State submitted that the court below had not given any reasoning whatsoever while determining the amount of compensation payable for the acquired land. The evidence led by the State was totally ignored. The acquired land was agricultural land but the learned court below without any reason enhanced the compensation. The prayer was for setting aside of award of the learned court below and restoration of the Collector. Heard learned counsel State and perused the relevant referred record. There is no dispute that Government had issued policy on 28.4.2005 (Ex. P-1) fixing minimum rates for awarding compensation for the acquired land, which was relied upon by the learned court below. There is also reference to policy dated 6.4.2007, vide which the Government of Haryana has further revised the minimum rates in the State of Haryana. 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). 2. Now it has been observed that with the passage of time market rates of the land have increased substantially. Therefore, RFA No. 5288 of 2009 (3) 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." As per the letter dated 28.4.2005 the minimum floor rate for the rest of the Haryana State was fixed @ ` 5,00,000/- per acre and the rates are applicable to all those acquisitions where awards have been announced on or after 28.4.2005 irrespective of date of notification under Section 4 of the Act. In the present case, the award was announced by the Collector on 6.5.2005, after the enforcement of policy dated 28.4.2005. Notification under Section 4 of the Act in the present case was issued on 4.6.2004 and the award by the Collector was announced on 6.5.2005 i.e. after the commencement of policy dated 28.4.2005, which is effective with effect from 5.3.2005. The aforesaid policy letters, in my opinion, has rightly been considered as a piece of evidence by the learned court below for the reason that the process to frame or revise a policy starts in advance, finalisation thereof takes time. Accordingly, as per the policy, the value of the acquired land determined @ ` 4,50,000/- per acre cannot be faulted with. Even otherwise, the acquisition in the present case was for the purpose of construction of Meerapur Choe Drains. The landowners have not been awarded any amount on account of severance though their land has been divided into two parts. RFA No. 5288 of 2009 (4) Accordingly, the appeals are dismissed. Consequently, all 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. 10.5.2011 (Rajesh Bindal) vs. Judge