R.F.A. No. 2901 of 1999 [1] IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH R.F.A. No. 2901 of 1999 (O&M) Date of decision: 9.11.2010 Baldev Singh and others .. Appellants v. State of Haryana and another .. Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH BINDAL Present: Mr. Pritam Saini, Mr. R. S. Longia Advocates for the land owners. Mr. Ashish Gupta, Assistant Advocate General, Haryana. Mr. J. P. Sharma, Advocate for Market Committee. ... Rajesh Bindal J. This order will dispose of R.F.A. Nos. 2901, 3058, 3059, 3206, 3215 to 3225, 3333 to 3336, 3338 to 3342 of 1999 and 756 of 2000 and cross objections No. 61-CI of 2000, as common questions of law and facts are involved. In the appeals and cross objections filed by the land owners, they are seeking further enhancement of compensation for the acquired land, whereas in the appeals filed by the State, the prayer is for reduction thereof. The facts have been extracted from R.F.A. No. 2901 of 1999. Briefly, the facts of the case are that vide notification dated 17.9.1993, issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, `the Act'), State of Haryana acquired the land in question, situated in villages Sunderpur, District Kurukshetra for construction of the road from Umri to new Grain Market. The Land Acquisition Collector (for short, `the Collector'), vide award dated 18.1.1995, assessed the market value @ ` 3,00,000/- per acre. Dissatisfied with the award of the Collector, the land owners filed objections. On reference under Section 18 of the Act, the learned court below assessed the market value of the acquired land @ ` 3,75,000/- per acre. R.F.A. No. 2901 of 1999 [2] Learned counsel for the landowners submitted that small portion of the land pertaining to village Sunderpur was acquired for the purpose of laying of road. It is emanating from a place, which was already developed and leading to Braham Sarover through Grain Market. The area around the land acquired for the purpose of laying of road was already developed. This court in R.F.A. No.2384 of 1996 –Bhura Singh v. State of Haryana and another, decided on 26.4.2006, pertaining to land of four villages including village Sunderpur acquired for the purpose of carving out Sector 8, Kurukshetra more than one year prior to the acquisition in the present case, had assessed the value thereof @ ` 7,26,000/- per acre. The prayer is that once the land pertaining to the same village acquired more than one year prior to the acquisition in the present case had been assessed @ ` 7,26,000/- per acre, the land owners in the present case whose land is even better located should be awarded compensation granting increase @ 12% per annum thereon for the time gap in the two notifications. On the other hand, learned counsel for the State submitted that just and fair compensation has been granted to the land owners which does not call for any interference by this court. If the evidence led by the land owners on record is considered, there is no material available on record to interfere with the impugned award. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the relevant referred record. As far as location of the land is concerned, the same is forming part of the revenue estate of village Sunderpur, which was acquired for the purpose of laying of road from Umri to New Grain Market. It is evident from the site plan produced in court that it emanates from a place quite close to the officers' colony at Kurukshetra which was already in existence. The road leads to the famous Braham Sarover close to the existing developed area in the city. This Court in Bhura Singh's case (supra) while dealing with the issue of assessment of fair value of the land pertaining to four villages including village Sunderpur acquired vide notification dated 21.4.1992 for the purpose of development as Sector 8, Kurukshetra, which was located towards GT road side of the land in question, had assessed the value @ ` 7,26,000/- per acre. In my opinion, the same can very well be relied upon for the purpose of assessment of value for the acquired land in the present set of appeals, as the potentiality of both the lands can be said to be similar. For the reasons mentioned above, the appeals filed by the land owners are accepted assessing the value of the acquired land @ ` 7,26,000/- per acre. The land owners shall also be entitled to all the statutory benefits available to R.F.A. No. 2901 of 1999 [3] them under the Act. The appeals filed by the State are dismissed. ( Rajesh Bindal ) Judge 9.11.2010 mk