R.F.A. No. 570 of 1988 [ 1] In the High Court of Punjab & Haryana at Chandigarh Date of decision : September 24, 2008 (1) R.F.A. No. 570 of 1988 Vir Bhan (Dead) through L.Rs. and others .. Appellants Vs. State of Punjab and others .. Respondents (2) R.F.A. No. 910 of 1988 State of Punjab and another .. Appellants Vs. Balour Singh and others .. Respondents (3) R.F.A. No. 995 of 1988 Bawa Singh and another .. Appellants Vs. State of Punjab and another .. Respondents Present: Mr. S.S.Kamboj, Advocate for Mr. Avnish Mittal, Advocate for the appellants in R.F.A. No. 570 of 1988 Mr. Abhishek Chautala, Assistant Advocate General, Punjab for the State of Punjab in all the appeals. Rajesh Bindal J. This order shall dispose of the above mentioned R.F.A. Nos. 570, 910 and 995 of 1988 as the same arise out of a common acquisition. R.F.A. Nos. 570 and 995 of 1988 have been filed by the land owners seeking enhancement of compensation, whereas in R.F.A. No. 910 of 1988, the State has prayed for reduction in the amount of compensation. The facts have been extracted from R.F.A. No. 570 of 1988. Briefly, the facts are that land in question was acquired vide notification dated 18/20.7.1983 issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, `the Act') for extension of Water Supply Scheme at Budhlada. The Collector gave award of Rs. 20,739/- per acre for nehri; Rs. 13,513/- per acre R.F.A. No. 570 of 1988 [ 2] for barani; Rs. 32,292/- per acre for gair mumkin and Rs. 27,651/- per acre for other kind of land. Aggrieved against the same, the land owners filed objections which were referred to the learned Additional District Judge, Bhatinda, who keeping in view the material placed on record by the parties, determined the fair value of the land @ Rs. 35,000/- per acre, irrespective of the quality of the land. Learned counsel for the land owners submitted that the learned Court below has totally ignored the evidence led by them on record to show the price of the land in the vicinity which run from Rs. 50,000/- per acre to Rs. 2,00,000/- per acre, whereas the compensation assessed is only Rs. 35,000/- per acre. He further referred to the evidence on record in the form of statement of A.W.1 -Harbans Singh, Record Keeper, Municipal Committee, Budhlada, who stated on oath that the land in question fell within the municipal limits since 1972. The area around the acquired land was already developed, as Hospital, Post Office, Police Station, PWD Rest House were situated just around 200 yards from the acquired land and the land was fit for being used as residential and commercial purpose. He further submitted that the sale deeds produced by the land owners were wrongly ignored by the Court below opining to be transactions for small pieces of land. While recording such a finding, the Court below lost sight of the fact that the property was urban falling within the municipal limits and as such, the sale transactions could only be for small pieces of land as big chunk of land may not be available in that area and a buyer may also not be available for the big area. He further relied upon Parveen Kumar and another v. Haryana State, 2007(2) RCR (Civil) 41 to submit that the land which is situated within the municipal limits of a town has to be evaluated as urban property for the purpose of determination of value thereof and cannot be treated as agricultural and in such a situation, even small sale deeds can also be relied upon. On the other hand, learned counsel for the respondents submitted that the award of the learned Court below does not call for any interference as fair value of the land has been assessed considering the entire material on record. The small transactions, forming part of the sale deeds relied upon by the land owners, measuring from 8 marlas to 2 kanals 8 marlas could not be relied upon for determination of fair value of the land in the present case which is 59 kanals 8 marlas. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record. It is an admitted position on record that the area in question was within the municipal limits since 1972. The acquisition was carried out on 18.7.1983. The area acquired is also not a very big chunk of land as the same is 59 R.F.A. No. 570 of 1988 [ 3] kanals 8 marlas. The land owners relied upon various sale deeds . However, some of them, namely, Ex. A.2, A.3, A.4, A.5, A.7, A.10 and A.11 had rightly been rejected by the Court below for the reason that the land forming part thereof was situated almost one kilometer away from the acquired land. Another good reason for rejection thereof is that the transactions showing sale of land within about 250 yards of the acquired property were available in comparison thereof and in such a situation, the same could be the best piece of evidence as against the sale deeds in which the land is situated almost one kilometer away from the acquired land. It is also evident from site plan (Ex.A.W.3/A) that the land in question is situated on the main road. A perusal of the site plan (Ex.R.1), produced by the State, shows that the sale deeds produced by the land owners are not situated on the road, rather, the same are inside the streets which as such could not be relied upon for the purpose of determination of the fair value of the land which is situated on the main road. The land shown in site plan (Ex.A.1) and also the land which was dealt with in Ex. A.8, A.9, A.13 and A.15, are situated close to the acquired land and is not situated on the main road, rather inside the street. Keeping in view the fact that the land in question is part of the municipal limits, the sale transactions of small plots of land could very well be relied upon by applying appropriate cut therein. If the average of sale price of sale deeds (Ex.A.8, A.9, A.13 and A.15) is considered, the same comes to Rs. 1,10,000/- per acre. Even if a cut of 50% is imposed thereon, the value of the land can very well be determined at Rs. 55,000/- per acre on the date of acquisition considering its location and potential. In view of the above, in my considered opinion, it would be just and fair to assess the value of the land at Rs. 55,000/- per acre on the date of acquisition. The land owners shall also be entitled to stautory benefits available to them under the Act. Accordingly, the appeals filed by the land owners are allowed, whereas the appeal filed by the State is dismissed. (Rajesh Bindal) Judge September 24 , 2008 mk