RFA No.788 of 1994 -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH RFA No.788 of 1994 Date of Decision: 10.12.2009 Chiranji Lal .……Appellant Versus State of Punjab and others ……Respondents Coram:- HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE L. N. MITTAL. Present: Mr.S. S. Kamboj, Advocate for Mr. Avinesh Mittal, Advocate for the appellant. Mr. H. S. Gill, DAG, Punjab for respondents. L. N. MITTAL, J (ORAL) By this common judgment, I am disposing of following 9 appeals:- 1. RFA No.788 of 1994 Chiranji Lal vs. State of Punjab 2. RFA No.789 of 1994 Gurdial Singh & another vs. State of Punjab & others 3. RFA No.790 of 1994 Bhagwan Singh & another vs. State of Punjab & others 4. RFA No.791 of 1994 Pyara Khan vs. State of Punjab & others 5. RFA No.792 of 1994 Hardev Singh & others vs. State of Punjab & others 6. RFA No.793 of 1994 Karnail Singh & others vs. State of Punjab & others 7. RFA No.876 of 1994 Sadhu Singh & another vs. State of Punjab & others 8. RFA No.877 of 1994 Mohinder Singh vs. State of Punjab & others 9. RFA No.1298 of 1994 Jagdish & another Vs. State of Punjab & others Learned Additional District Judge, Sangrur vide two awards, both dated 15.12.1993, disposed of 3 reference petitions and 10 reference petitions filed under Section 18 of the Land RFA No.788 of 1994 -2- Acquisition Act, 1894 (in short, the Act) pertaining to acquisition of land through same notifications for the same purpose. The instant 9 appeals have arisen out of the aforesaid two awards. Land of 3 villages namely Balad Kalan, Nidampur and Harditpura was acquired for re-alignment of Nidampur by-pass. Notification under Section 4 of the Act was issued on 01.03.1985. Land Acqusition Collector awarded compensation at the rate of Rs.19,104/- per acre for the land of village Balad Kalan involved in RFA No.788 of 1994 and the Land Acquisition Collector awarded compensation at the rate of Rs.11,520/- per acre for the acquired land involved in remaining 8 appeals. However, learned Additional District Judge, Sangrur vide both his impugned awards awarded compensation for the acquired land at the uniform rate of Rs.46,000/- per acre along with statutory benefits in accordance with Section 23 (1-A), Section 23(2) and Section 28 of the Act. Feeling aggrieved, the aforesaid 9 appeals have been preferred by the landowners for further enhancement of the compensation. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and with their assistance, I have also perused the records. Taking from the case titled as ‘Chiranji Lal versus State of Punjab and others’ pertaining to RFA No.788 of 1994, the landowners produced in evidence sale deeds EX.P-5 to Ex.P-15. However, sale deeds Ex.P-15 to Ex.P-11 dated 21.07.1988, 19.01.1987, 08.12.1986, 31.03.1989, 22.09.1988, 05.09.1988 and 01.12.1988 respectively being of the period long after the date of notification under Section 4 of the Act have been rightly ignored by RFA No.788 of 1994 -3- the Reference Court. However, the reference Court has relied on sale deeds Ex.P-12 and Ex.P-14 to Ex.P-16 in paragraph 9 of the Award. Perusal of the lower Court record, however, reveals that in this case, Ex.P-16 was not produced. The sale instances contained in sale deeds Ex.P-12 to P-15 are tabulated hereunder:- Sr. Sale Date of sale Area of Sale Price of No. Deed Deed land sold Consi- land per deration acre 1. Ex.P-12 16.07.84 10 Biswas Rs.3500/- Rs.33600/- 2. Ex.P-13 03.01.85 12 Biswas Rs.5000/- Rs.40000/- 3. Ex.P-14 26.05.83 15 Biswas Rs.6000/- Rs.38400/- 4. Ex.P-15 02.06.83 9 Biswas Rs.6000/- Rs.64000/- Learned Additional District Judge, Sangrur calculated Rs.46,000/- per acre as average sale price of the 4 sale deeds mentioned in Paragraph 9 of the impugned Award and awarded compensation at the said rate. Learned counsel for the appellants vehemently contended that vide sale deed Ex.P-15, the market price of the land comes to Rs.64,000/- per acre. However, it appears that due to some advantageous location of the land of this sale deed, the same fetched high price on account of its potential because as per sale deed Ex.P-14 executed only a week before the sale deed Ex.P-15, land was sold at the rate of Rs.38,400/- per acre. Moreover, vide sale deed Ex.P-12 executed more than a year after the sale deeds Ex.P-14 and Ex.P-15, land was sold at the rate of Rs.33,600/- per acre. The variation in sale price in the various sale deeds would RFA No.788 of 1994 -4- show that the price varied according to the location of the land of each sale deed. The State, however, did not produce any sale deed as comparable sale instance. Sale deed Ex.P-15 cannot be ignored altogether. However, at the same time, sale deeds Ex.P-12 to Ex.P-14 also have to be taken into consideration. On the contrary, Court also cannot be oblivious of the fact that all these four sale deeds pertain to small plots of land and, therefore, to determine market price of big tract of land, some reduction has to be made. However, sale deeds Ex.P-14 and Ex.P-15 were executed almost 21 months before the date of notification under Section 4 of the Act whereas sale deed Ex.P-12 was executed almost 8 months before the notification under Section 4 of the Act, but sale deed Ex.P-13 was executed almost two months before the date of notification under Section 4 of the Act. Keeping in view all the factors and balancing the equities on both sides, I am of the considered opinion that market price should be determined at Rs.51,200/- per acre being average price of sale deed Ex.P-14 and sale deed Ex.P-15. These sale deeds were executed almost 21 months before the date of notification under Section 4 of the Act, but no increase for the said intervening period is being allowed because these sale deeds are for small plots for which deduction has to be made for determining the market price of big piece of land. Consequently, increase for the intervening period of 21 months is set off by cut in lieu of sale deeds being for small plots of land. In view of the aforesaid, I determine the market price of RFA No.788 of 1994 -5- the acquired land to be Rs.51,200/- per acre. Accordingly, the appellant shall be entitled to compensation for their acquired land at the rate of Rs.51,200/- per acre along with statutory benefits in accordance with the provisions of Section 23(1-A), Section 23(2) and Section 28 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. The appeals stand disposed of accordingly. ( L. N. MITTAL ) JUDGE 10.12.2009 A. Kaundal