IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No. 4011 of 1988 Date of decision: 9th December, 2008 Dr. Tejpal Singh Basra … Petitioner Versus The Tribunal constituted under the Town Improvement Act, Jalandhar and others … Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA Present: Mr. D.K. Singhal, Advocate – Amicus Curiae for the petitioner. Mr. Sandeep Khunger, Advocate for respondents No.1 to 3. KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA, J. (ORAL) Present writ petition was filed by Dr.Tejpal Singh Basra, whose father’s land was acquired by Jalandhar Improvement Trust. Petitioner had migrated to United States of America. He was represented by Mr.Ravinder Seth, advocate, who had expired. Various efforts made by the registry to serve the petitioner could not fructify, as the service could not be effected in United States of America and after the death of his counsel, it seems that petitioner has not followed up the litigation. Therefore, this Court had appointed Mr.D.K. Singhal as Amicus Curiae. No body was appearing for the Jalandhar Improvement Trust. Therefore, various orders were passed, which lastly have elicited response of the Jalandhar Improvement Trust and today both, the Amicus Curiae and counsel for the Jalandhar Improvement Trust are present. Civil Writ Petition No.4011 of 1988 Counsel for the parties are in agreement that in the present case, in view of the approval by the Government for acquisition of land, notification under the Town Improvement Act, 1922 was issued on 20th July, 1977. Thereafter, Collector gave his award on 21st December, 1978 and awarded Rs.330/- per marla along with 15 percent solatium and thereafter reference was made. The reference Court gave its award on 20th July, 1983 and awarded Rs.625/- per marla along with 15 percent solatium and 6 percent interest, operative part of which reads as under: “12. For the foregoing reasons, the compensation of the acquired land of the petitioners is assessed at Rs.625.00 per marla. They are also entitled to 15% solatium on the enhanced amount of compensation besides 5 percent per annum statutory interest from the date of dispossession till the date of payment. The Legal Representatives of Avtar Singh (since dead) shall be entitled to receive the enhanced compensation in equal shares.” Against this award, many writ petitions were filed. They were disposed off vide a judgment rendered in one of the connected writ petitions bearing No. 4586 of 1985 by a Single Bench of this Court and amount of compensation was enhanced from Rs.625/- per marla to Rs.1000/- per marla along with 15 percent solatium and 6 percent interest. It seems that in connected writ petitions, the amount was also awarded under Section 23 (1) A of the Land Acquisition Act. Counsel for parties submit that Letters Patent Appeal was filed by the Improvement Trust. The same was dismissed by this Court. Thereafter, the Jalandhar Improvement Trust filed an SLP, which was decided by the Hon'ble Apex Court and the judgment has been reported as ‘Nagpur Improvement Trust v. Vasantrao and others’ with ‘Jalandhar Improvement Trust v. Amrik Singh and others’ AIR 2002 SC 3499. 2 Civil Writ Petition No.4011 of 1988 Parties are in agreement that in view of the judgment of Hon'ble Apex Court, petitioner is entitled to enhancement of compensation at the rate of Rs.1000/- per marla along with 15 percent solatium and 6 percent interest. In view of the joint submission made by the counsel for the parties, present writ petition is disposed off and compensation awarded to the petitioner for acquisition of land of his father is enhanced to Rs.1000/- per marla along with 15 percent solatium and 6 percent interest. However, as a matter of abundant caution, it is stated that in case petitioner is not satisfied, he may file an application for revival of the present writ petition. With these observations, present writ petition is disposed off. [KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA] JUDGE December 9, 2008 rps 3