R.F.A. No. 205 of 2000 [ 1] IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH R.F.A. No. 205 of 2000 (O&M) Date of decision: January 20, 2011 Hari Singh .. Appellant v. State of Haryana .. Respondent CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH BINDAL Present: Mr. Shailendra Jain, Mr. J. S. Thind and Mr. Sandeep Punchhi, Advocates for the land owners. Mr. Brijeshwar Singh Kanwar, Advocate for Union of India. Mr. Ashish Gupta, Assistant Advocate General, Haryana. ... Rajesh Bindal J. This order will dispose of R.F.A. Nos. 479 and 715 of 1995, 205, 299, 339 to 341, 573 to 579, 733, 919 to 939, 1228, 1982 of 2000, 2109 to 2111 and 3550 of 2003 and cross objections No. 128-CI of 2006 and 31-CI of 2007, 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 Union of India, the prayer is for reduction thereof. The facts have been extracted from R.F.A. No. 205 of 2000. Briefly, the facts of the case are that vide notification dated 13.2.1990, issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, `the Act'), State of Haryana sought to acquire 191.30 acres of land, situated in village Meerpur, District Sirsa, for construction of R.F.A. No. 205 of 2000 [ 2] accommodation for technical and administrative wings for Air Force. The same was followed by notification dated 12.3.1990, issued under Section 6 of the Act. The Land Acquisition Collector (for short, `the Collector'), vide his award dated 12.6.1990, assessed the market value of the acquired land @ ` 50,000/- per acre for Nehri land; ` 30,000/- per acre for Barani, Banjar Kadeem and Banjar Zadeed land and ` 1,00,000/- per acre for remaining Gair Mumkin land. 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 @ ` 6,30,000/- per acre for the land situated upto the extent of 200 feet from the National Highway No. 10 and ` 3,80,000/- per acre for the land beyond 200 feet, irrespective of the quality of lands. It is this award, which has been impugned by both the parties in the set of appeals. Learned counsel for the land owners submitted that inspite of there being two judgments of this court, which were produced on record before the court below, namely, Ex. P60 and Ex. PZ pertaining to the acquisition of land of villages Ahmadpur and Shamshabad vide notifications issued at the same time, whereby this court had assessed the value of the land of village Ahmadpur @ ` 4,06,320/- per acre and for village Shamshabad @ ` 5,41,760/- per acre, still the learned court below has assessed the compensation therefor merely @ ` 3,80,000/- per acre for the land, which is located 200 feet beyond the main road and for the land located on the road, the same has rightly been assessed @ ` 6,30,000/- per acre. The location of acquired land in the present set of appeals, which is pertaining to village Meerpur is similar to village Ahmadpur. The prayer was for grant of compensation for the land located beyond 200 feet of the main road @ ` 4,06,320/- per acre as against ` 3,80,000/- per acre. As far as location of the land is concerned, it was submitted that the same is located adjoining to the populated area of city of Sirsa and existing Air Force establishment. There were residential colonies and other commercial establishments in the vicinity. As far as the area abutting the main road is concerned, the same was already developed. On the other hand, learned counsel for Union of India submitted that location of land of village Meerpur is quite inferior to the R.F.A. No. 205 of 2000 [ 3] land of village Ahmadpur. It is located far off from the city. In fact, some part of the land used to be submerged in water of Ghaghar River. The amount of compensation, as has been awarded by the learned court below is not in consonance with the evidence produced on record by the land owners. In fact, the same deserves to be reduced in case the value shown in the sale deeds produced on record is considered. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the relevant referred record. A perusal of site plan (Ex. P56) shows location of three villages, namely, Ahmadpur, Meerpur and Shamshadpur. The land pertaining to village Meerpur is abutting the main road, whereas land of village Ahmadpur is behind that. The land pertaining to village Shamshadpur is located just adjoining the city. Beyond that towards Dabhwali/Bhatinda side is the existing Air Force area. The land beyond that was acquired vide two different acquisitions, one of which is under consideration in the present set of appeals and two sets of cases have been decided vide judgments Ex. 60 and Ex. PZ. Notification under Section 4 of the Act in the present case was issued on 13.2.1990 acquiring 191.30 acres of land of village Meerpur. Just at the same time vide notification dated 13.2.1990, published on 17.2.1990, 178.47 acres of land pertaining to three villages [42.7 acres of village Shamshadpur, 124.97 acres of village Ahmadpur and 11 acres of village Meerpur) was acquired. This court in R.F.A. No. 306 of 1996 –Sat Parkash v. Central Government of India, decided on 17.12.1998 assessed the value of 124.97 acres of land pertaining to village Ahmadpur @ ` 4,06,320/- per acre. In R.F.A. No. 2382 of 1997 – Union of India v. Dr. Balbir Singh and another, decided on 10.12.1998, this court determined the value of 42.7 acres of land of village Shamshadpur @ ` 5,41,760/- per acre. It has been specifically noticed in the aforesaid judgment that the area pertaining to village Shamshadpur is abutting GT road and was forming part of the municipal limits. One uniform rate was awarded by this court and the aforesaid judgment attained finality. As is evident from site plan (Ex. P56), the land pertaining to village Ahmadpur is not abutting the main road, whereas land of village Meerpur is adjoining the boundaries of land of village Ahmadpur on one side and abutting the main road on the other side. For the land situated beyond 200 feet, in my opinion, R.F.A. No. 205 of 2000 [ 4] the judgment of this court in Sat Parkash's case (supra) can very well be relied upon for the purpose of assessment of compensation in the present set of appeals. Accordingly, it is held that for the land beyond 200 feet from the main road, the land owners shall be entitled to compensation @ ` 4,06,320/- per acre. They shall also be entitled to all the statutory benefits available to them under the Act. Hon'ble the Supreme Court in Civil Appeal No. 6515 of 2009 – Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation v. Pran Sukh and others, decided on 17.8.2010, to ensure that the landowners are not fleeced by the middleman in the process of disbursement of enhanced compensation, issued certain directions. I deem it appropriate to issue same directions in the present set of appeals as well. The same are as under: “With a view to ensure that the land owners are not fleeced by the middleman, we deem it appropriate to issue following further directions: (i) The Land Acquisition Collector shall depute officers subordinate to him not below the rank of Naib Tehsildar, who shall get in touch with all the land owners and/or their legal representatives and inform them about their entitlement and right to receive enhanced compensation. (ii) The concerned officers shall also instruct the land owners and/or their legal representatives to open savings bank account in case they already do not have such account. (iii) The bank account numbers of the land owners should be given to the Land Acquisition Collector within three months. (iv) The Land Acquisition Collector shall deposit the cheques of compensation in the bank accounts of the land owners.” As far as the land situated on main road is concerned, I am of the considered view that the amount of compensation, as has been awarded by the learned court below @ ` 6,30,000/- per acre is not in consonance with the material produced on record by the land owners. In Dr. Balbir R.F.A. No. 205 of 2000 [ 5] Singh's case (supra), this court for the land pertaining to village Shamshadpur, which is located close to city and was forming part of the municipal limits, had assessed the value @ ` 5,41,760/- per acre. Though the land pertaining to village Meerpur is located beyond the city, but still the value of land, which is abutting the main road is always higher than the value of land which is behind that. Considering the fact that for the land pertaining to village Shamshadpur, this court had assessed the value @ ` 5,41,760/- per acre, considering the fact that it was forming part of the municipal limits, in my opinion, the same can very well be relied upon for the purpose of valuation of the land, which is abutting the main road, though at some distance from the city. Accordingly, the value of the land abutting the main road is assessed @ ` 5,41,760/- per acre instead of ` 6,30,000/- per acre. In view of the above, it is held that for the land beyond 200 feet from the main road, the land owners shall be entitled to compensation @ ` 4,06,320/- per acre. They shall also be entitled to all the statutory benefits available to them under the Act. For the land abutting the main road, they shall be entitled to compensation @ ` 5,41,760/- per acre. The impugned award of the learned court below is modified in the above terms. Accordingly, the appeals stand disposed of in the manner indicated above. ( Rajesh Bindal ) Judge January 20, 2011 mk