IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CWP No.5985 of 1986 Date of decision: 14.1.2009 Dev Parkash Sood and others -----Petitioners Vs. The Land Acquisition Tribunal, Ludhiana Improvement Trust, Ludhiana and another --Respondents CORAM:- HON'BLE MR JUSTICE ADARSH KUMAR GOEL HON'BLE MR JUSTICE JITENDRA CHAUHAN Present: Mr. Naveen Batra, Advocate for the petitioners. Mr. Sukhbir Singh, Advocate for the improvement Trust. Adarsh Kumar Goel,J. 1. This order will dispose of Civil Writ Petition Nos.5985, 5986 and 6795 of 1986, as all the three petitions arise out of same proceedings for acquisition and raise common question of valuation of compensation for the acquired land. 2. Vide notification published on 8.8.1976 under Section 36 of the Punjab Town Improvement Act, 1922, (in short, ‘the 1922 Act’), 256 acres of land was sought to be CWP No.5985 of 1986 acquired for development of a Scheme known as ‘256 acres Development Scheme’. Notification under section 42 of the 1922 Act was issued on 24.11.1978. The Collector vide order dated 12.6.1980 determined compensation in three different blocks ranging between Rs.180/- to Rs.676/- per marla. On reference under section 54 of the 1922 Act with regard to sufficiency of compensation awarded, the Tribunal enhanced the rate of compensation ranging between Rs.17.50 per square yard to Rs.39/- per square yard. 3. It has been pointed out that a bunch of petitions was disposed of by this Court on 16.5.2006 and the main case was CWP No.4890 of 1986 (Prem Gupta v. Improvement Trust and another) and this Court held that since part of acquired land abutted old Rajpura road and boundaries of the acquired land touched the Agriculture University and the land was within municipal limits of Ludhiana town, where all round development had already taken place, entire land had potential at par and belting of land in different blocks was not called for, the valuation of the land should be uniform for the entire land. Accordingly, compensation was enhanced to Rs.39/- per square yard for the entire land. This Court also awarded solatium at the rate of 30% per annum and interest at the rate 2 CWP No.5985 of 1986 of 9% per annum for the first year and 15% for the second years on the entire compensation including solatitum, in view of law laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Sunder v. Union of India, AIR 2001 SC 3516. However, it was held that additional compensation under section 23(1-A) of the Act was not admissible, in view of judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in K.S.Paripoornan v. State of Kerala, AIR 1995 SC 1012. 4. We have heard learned counsel for the parties. 5. In view of earlier judgment of this Court in Prem Gupta (Supra), these petitions are disposed of in same terms by holding that land owners are entitled to compensation at the rate of Rs.39/- per square yard and in addition, they are entitled to solatium at the rate of 30% percent and interest on the entire amount, including solatium, at the rate of 9% per annum for the first year and 15% for the subsequent years. (Adarsh Kumar Goel) Judge January 14, 2009 (Jitendra Chauhan) ‘gs’ Judge 3