RFA No. 5042 of 2001 [1] IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH R.F.A. No. 5042 of 2001 (O&M) Date of decision: 7.9.2010 State of Haryana and another .. Appellants v. Jarnail Singh .. Respondent CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH BINDAL Present: Mr. Ashish Gupta, Assistant Advocate General, Haryana. Mr. Shailendra Jain, Advocate for the land owners. ... Rajesh Bindal J. This order will dispose of R.F.A. Nos. 5042 to 5047 of 2001, 941 and 1166 to 1168 of 2002 and 3942 and 4100 of 2006, as common questions of law and facts are involved. In the appeals filed by the land owners, the prayer is for enhancement of compensation awarded to the land owners 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. 5042 of 2001. Briefly, the facts of the case are that vide notification dated 3.7.1998, issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, `the Act'), State of Haryana acquired 1.48 acres of land, situated in village Saketri, Hadbast No. 376, for construction of link road, i.e., Saketri Mahadevpur road to Shri Shiv Mandir Nav Durga Charitable Trust Mahadevpur. The same was followed by notification dated 9.9.1998 issued under Section 6 of the Act. The Land Acquisition Collector (for short, `the Collector') awarded compensation @ ` 4,63,200/- per acre for Barani land and ` 2,31,520/- per acre for Banjar Kadim kind of land. Dissatisfied with the award of the Collector, the land owners filed RFA No. 5042 of 2001 [2] objections. On reference under Section 18 of the Act, the learned court below assessed the market value of the acquired land ` 11,55,000/- per acre. The site plan produced in court by learned counsel for the State showing the location of the sale deeds produced in evidence was taken on record. A perusal thereof shows that it is only the land pertaining to sale deed (Ex. P11), which is located quite close to the acquired land. The area dealt with therein is 1 kanal and 10 marlas. The average sale consideration paid therein is @ ` 11,57,333/- per acre. The same was registered on 3.9.1997. The land pertaining to all other sale deeds is located far off from the acquired land. In fact, from a perusal of the site plan, what can be opined is that this is the only sale deed which can be said to be relevant for the purpose of assessment of fair value of the acquired land. The learned court below had assessed the market value of the acquired land @ ` 11,55,000/- per acre. Learned counsel for the land owners submitted that considering the fact that the acquired land is also merely 11 kanals and 10 marlas and the same having been acquired for the purpose of construction of a road, small portions of land belonging to number of land owners were acquired. Even if in the sale deed (Ex. P11), the area dealt with is one kanal and 10 marlas, no cut is required to be applied thereon, as even the acquired land is merely 1.48 acres. Whereas the contention of learned counsel for the State was that considering the smallness of the area dealt with in sale deed (Ex. P11), reasonable cut is required to be applied. After hearing learned counsel for the parties, in my opinion, considering the fact that the land pertaining to sale deed (Ex. P11) is the most appropriate evidence and the consideration paid therein is at an average price of ` 11,57,333/- per acre, the area dealt with therein is one kanal and 10 marlas, the acquired land being small chunk of 11 kanals and 10 marlas, acquired for the purpose of construction of road, the award of the learned court below assessing the value of the acquired land @ ` 11,55,000/- per acre does not call for any interference, as no cut as such is required to be applied. Accordingly, the appeals are dismissed. ( Rajesh Bindal ) Judge 7.9.2010 mk