IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. RFA No.2297 of 2011 (O&M) Date of decision: 22.9.2011 Kabaj & others -----Appellants Vs. State of Haryana and another -----Respondents and connected cases being RFA No.2298 of 2011 (O&M) Ishwar -----Appellant Vs. State of Haryana and another -----Respondents RFA No.2299 of 2011 (O&M) Baru -----Appellant Vs. State of Haryana and another -----Respondents and RFA No.2301 of 2011 (O&M) Sarab Singh & others -----Appellants Vs. State of Haryana and another -----Respondents CORAM:- HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAKESH KUMAR GARG 1. Whether reporters of local newspapers may be allowed to see judgment? 2. To be referred to reporters or not? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? Present:- Mr. Sandeep Panwar, Advocate for the appellants. --- RFA No.2297 of 2011 RAKESH KUMAR GARG, J. This judgment shall dispose of RFA Nos.2297, 2298, 2299 and 2301 of 2011, as all the four appeals have arisen out of one common award of the reference Court i.e. LAC No.359 of 2008 titled as Singha Singh Vs. State of Haryana which was treated as main reference. In these appeals, the landowners are seeking enhancement of compensation for the acquired land. The appeals pertain to the valuation of land acquired for construction of BML Hansi Branch-Butana Branch Multipurpose Link Channel from RD 156-262 off taking from RD 340300-L Bhakra Main Line for which notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short 'the Act') was issued by the State of Haryana on 23.8.2005. The land is situated within the revenue estate of village Kathwar, Hadbast No. 3, Tehsil and District Kaithal. Notification under Section 6 of the Act was issued on 19.9.2005. The Land Acquisition Collector (for short 'the Collector') vide award dated 13.1.2006 assessed the market value of the acquired land @ `5,00,000/- per acre. The land owners being dissatisfied with the award of the Collector filed objections which were referred to the learned Court below. On reference under Section 18 of the Act, the learned Court below assessed the compensation of the acquired land @ `6,50,000/- 2 RFA No.2297 of 2011 per acre. Aggrieved against the award of the learned court below, the landowners are in appeal before this court. A perusal of the impugned award shows that the learned court below on the basis of sale-deed, Ex. P-5, produced on record by the landowners, determined the market value of the acquired land `6,50,000/- per acre. No other sale-deed was produced on record to show the value of the land in that area. As per the policy dated 28.4.2005 issued by the Government of Haryana, the minimum rates fixed in the area in question was `5,00,000/-. In the absence of any other evidence available on record, the learned court below had assessed the market value @ ` 6,50,000/- per acre, which cannot be said to be on lower side. Faced with this situation, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the appellants has raised an argument that the land of different villages was acquired by the State Government under same notification and for the same purpose. Even the land of all the villages is of same kind i.e. agricultural, but different compensation has been assessed for different villages whereas the acquired land in all these villages is contiguous and, thus, the compensation should have been assessed for all these villages at the same rate. The aforesaid argument is liable to be rejected simply for the reason that there is nothing on record on the basis of 3 RFA No.2297 of 2011 which it can be shown that the land of other villages was assessed at a higher rate than the compensation awarded by the reference Court in the instant case. At this stage, it is appropriate to reproduce the relevant finding of the Reference Court which reads thus:- “…. The petitioners are also placing reliance on copy of the award Ex.P1 which was announced by this court with respect to the land of village Theh Banehra and the market value at the rate of Rs.six lacs per acre was fixed by this Court. Taking into consideration the totality of the facts and circumstances attending the case and the fact that the acquired land is in close vicinity of Kaithal the market value of the acquired land is fixed at Rs.6.5 lacs per acre.” It may also be relevant to mention that many times, element of guess-work could also be involved in determination of the market value, as observed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Prithvi Raj Taneja v. State of Madhya Pradesh AIR 1977 SC 1560. There is, thus, no merit in the appeals. The same are dismissed. Since these appeals have been dismissed on merits, the applications for condonation of delay do not survive. A photocopy of this order be placed on the file of each connected case. September 22, 2011 ( RAKESH KUMAR GARG ) ak JUDGE 4