RFA No. 1889 of 1997 [1] IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Date of decision: April 29 , 2009 R.F.A. No. 1889 of 1997 (O&M) Bachan Singh (deceased) through LRs and others .. Appellants Vs. The State of Punjab and others .. Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH BINDAL Present: Mr. Pritam Saini, Advocate for the appellants. Mr. O. P. Dabla, Assistant Advocate General, Punjab for the respondents. Rajesh Bindal J. The land owners are in appeal against the award of the learned court below seeking further enhancement of compensation for the acquired land. Briefly, the facts are that the land measuring 8 kanals and 13 marlas, situated in village Kharar, District Ropar was acquired by the State Government vide notification dated 30.12.1988, issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, `the Act') for expansion of National Textile Corporation unit at Kharar. The Land Acquisition Collector (for short, `the Collector') assessed the market value of the acquired land @ Rs. 37,143/- per acre for gair mumkin kind of land. Aggrieved against the award of the Collector, the land owners filed objections which were referred to the learned Additional District Judge, Ropar, who keeping in view the material placed on record by the parties, upheld the award of the Collector. Learned counsel for the land owners submitted that the case in hand is a living example of usurping of property by an industrialist. In the present case, possession of the land was with National Textile Corporation, for whose expansion the same was subsequently acquired. They had, in fact, raised construction on the acquired portion of land way back in the year 1974, though the notification under Section 4 of the Act was issued on 30.12.1988. The evidence produced by the land owners on record was not considered. The land is RFA No. 1889 of 1997 [2] strategically located on Kharar-Ambala road at a distance of about 400 yards from bus stand, Kharar. There were number of other commercial establishments in the vicinity. It was further submitted that for various other acquisitions carried out subsequent to the acquisition in question or even prior thereto, this Court has assessed more compensation as compared to the amount, which has been paid to the land owners herein. Reliance was placed upon R.F.A. No. 2617 of 1990 – Sadhu Singh v. The State of Punjab, decided on 29.5.2006 and L.P.A. No. 349 of 2000—Sher Singh v. State of Punjab and another, decided on 4.1.2006. On the other hand, learned counsel for the State submitted that it is a case of no evidence. The land owners had produced on record a judgment relating to acquisition of land of village Kambali and reports prepared by the Patwari on the basis of mutation. Nothing else was produced on record to discharge the onus on the appellants-land owners regarding valuation of the land by the Collector. As far as reliance on judgments pertaining to the acquisition of land of other villages is concerned, it was submitted that though it is sought to be claimed that the land dealt with in those judgments is located close by or even at a better location than the land in question, but there is no site plan on record to prove this contention. The impugned award, in fact, does not call for any interference by this Court. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the relevant referred record. As far as the evidence led by the land owners on record is concerned, Ex. A1 is the judgment pertaining to the acquisition of land of village Kambali, which was acquired for construction of New Subzi Mandi, Mohali. Village Kambali is adjoining to SAS Nagar, Mohali. No site plan on record has been referred to show the exact location of village Kambali dealt with in judgment (Ex. A1) vis-a-vis the acquired land. In the absence thereof, comparability of both the lands cannot be considered. As far as reports (Ex. A2 and Ex. A3) are concerned, the same were prepared by the Patwari on the basis of mutation, which is not a relevant piece of evidence and cannot be considered for the purpose of determination of fair value of the acquired land. As far as reliance on the judgments, referred to before this Court, pertaining to the acquisition of land of village Mataur in Sadhu Singh's case (supra) and village Kumbra in Sher Singh's case (supra) is concerned, in my opinion, even the aforesaid judgments are also of no help to the land owners herein on account of the fact that there is no site plan on record to show the exact location of the land dealt with in the aforesaid judgments and the present acquisition. In the RFA No. 1889 of 1997 [3] absence thereof, this Court will not be able to opine that the aforesaid judgments can be considered to be a relevant piece of judicial precedent which can be relied upon for the purpose of determination of fair value of the acquired land. In view of my above discussion, I do not find any reason to interfere with the impugned award. Accordingly, the appeal is dismissed. (Rajesh Bindal) Judge 29 .4.2009 mk