R.F.A. No. 1421 of 1990 [1] IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH R.F.A. No. 1421 of 1990 (O&M) Date of decision: 2.2.2011 Rachan Singh and others ... Appellants Vs. State of Punjab and another .. Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH BINDAL Present: Ms. Ekta Thakur, Advocate for the appellants. Mr. Yatinder Sharma, Deputy Advocate General, Punjab. Rajesh Bindal J. The land owners are in appeal against the award of the learned court below seeking further enhancement of compensation for the acquired land. Briefly, the facts are that the land in question, situated in village Khanpur Bangar, Tehsil Rajpura was sought to be acquired by the State Government vide notifications dated 4.9.1985, issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, `the Act') for construction of Satluj Yamuna Link Canal. The Land Acquisition Collector (for short, `the Collector'), vide his award dated 25.5.1986, assessed the market value of the acquired land as under: Sr. No. Kind of land Price per acre in ` 1. Chahi 62,000/- 2. Barani 50,000/- 3. Gair Mumkin 35,000/- Aggrieved against the award of the Collector, the land owners filed objections which were referred to the learned District Judge, Patiala, who keeping in view the material placed on record by the parties, assessed the market value of the acquired land at ` 77,772.80 per acre. R.F.A. No. 1421 of 1990 [2] Learned counsel for the land owners submitted that the court below had not properly assessed the fair value of the acquired land. The land in question was acquired vide notification dated 4.9.1985. Prior to that, land pertaining to this very village was acquired vide notification dated 4.12.1982, issued under Section 4 of the Act, for the same purpose. This court in R.F.A. No. 1829 of 1987—Sarwan Singh (deceased) through his legal heirs v. State of Punjab and another, decided on 8.10.2003 had determined the market value of the acquired land therein @ ` 1,00,000/- per acre. Placing reliance thereon, the submission is that since this court in Sarwan Singh's case (supra) had determined the market value of the land acquired vide notification dated 4.12.1982 @ ` 1,00,000/- per acre, the value of the land acquired vide notification dated 4.9.1985, situated in the same village, should be assessed at the same as base rate and granting further increase @ 12% per annum 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 awarded by the court below after considering the evidence led by the parties. The court below had rightly assessed the value of the land which was prevailing at the relevant time, which does not call for any interference. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the relevant referred record. It is admitted case of the parties that the land in question and the one, which was considered by this court in Sarwan Singh's case (supra) is situated in the same village. It is also admitted that this court in Sarwan Singh's case (supra) had determined the market value of the land acquired vide notification dated 4.12.1982 @ ` 1,00,000/- per acre. The present land was acquired vide notification dated 4.9.1985, i.e., 2 years and 9 months after the earlier acquisition, as considered in Sarwan Singh's case (supra). If the base is taken in terms of the value of the land as given in Sarwan Singh's case (supra) reasonable increase for time gap in between two acquisitions can very well be granted. Keeping in view the time gap of two years and 9 months between the two acquisitions, in my opinion, increase of 20% for the said period on ` 1,00,000/- per acre would be reasonable. Accordingly, the value of the acquired land in the present case R.F.A. No. 1421 of 1990 [3] is determined @ ` 1,20,000/- per acre. The land owners shall also be entitled to the statutory benefits available to them under the Act. To ensure that the landowners are not fleeced by the middleman in the process of disbursement of enhanced compensation, 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 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.” The appeal is disposed of in the above terms. ( Rajesh Bindal ) Judge 2.2.2011 mk