R.F.A. No. 570 of 1988 [ 1]
In the High Court of Punjab & Haryana at Chandigarh
Date of decision : September 24, 2008
(1) R.F.A. No. 570 of 1988
Vir Bhan (Dead) through L.Rs. and others
.. Appellants
Vs.
State of Punjab and others
.. Respondents
(2) R.F.A. No. 910 of 1988
State of Punjab and another
.. Appellants
Vs.
Balour Singh and others
.. Respondents
(3) R.F.A. No. 995 of 1988
Bawa Singh and another
.. Appellants
Vs.
State of Punjab and another
.. Respondents
Present: Mr. S.S.Kamboj, Advocate for
Mr. Avnish Mittal, Advocate for the appellants
in R.F.A. No. 570 of 1988
Mr. Abhishek Chautala, Assistant Advocate General,
Punjab for the State of Punjab in all the appeals.
Rajesh Bindal J.
This order shall dispose of the above mentioned R.F.A. Nos. 570,
910 and 995 of 1988 as the same arise out of a common acquisition. R.F.A. Nos.
570 and 995 of 1988 have been filed by the land owners seeking enhancement of
compensation, whereas in R.F.A. No. 910 of 1988, the State has prayed for
reduction in the amount of compensation. The facts have been extracted from
R.F.A. No. 570 of 1988.
Briefly, the facts are that land in question was acquired vide
notification dated 18/20.7.1983 issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition
Act, 1894 (for short, `the Act’) for extension of Water Supply Scheme at Budhlada.
The Collector gave award of Rs. 20,739/- per acre for nehri; Rs. 13,513/- per acre
R.F.A. No. 570 of 1988 [ 2]
for barani; Rs. 32,292/- per acre for gair mumkin and Rs. 27,651/- per acre for
other kind of land. Aggrieved against the same, the land owners filed objections
which were referred to the learned Additional District Judge, Bhatinda, who
keeping in view the material placed on record by the parties, determined the fair
value of the land @ Rs. 35,000/- per acre, irrespective of the quality of the land.
Learned counsel for the land owners submitted that the learned Court
below has totally ignored the evidence led by them on record to show the price of
the land in the vicinity which run from Rs. 50,000/- per acre to Rs. 2,00,000/- per
acre, whereas the compensation assessed is only Rs. 35,000/- per acre. He further
referred to the evidence on record in the form of statement of A.W.1 -Harbans
Singh, Record Keeper, Municipal Committee, Budhlada, who stated on oath that
the land in question fell within the municipal limits since 1972. The area around
the acquired land was already developed, as Hospital, Post Office, Police Station,
PWD Rest House were situated just around 200 yards from the acquired land and
the land was fit for being used as residential and commercial purpose. He further
submitted that the sale deeds produced by the land owners were wrongly ignored
by the Court below opining to be transactions for small pieces of land. While
recording such a finding, the Court below lost sight of the fact that the property
was urban falling within the municipal limits and as such, the sale transactions
could only be for small pieces of land as big chunk of land may not be available in
that area and a buyer may also not be available for the big area. He further relied
upon Parveen Kumar and another v. Haryana State, 2007(2) RCR (Civil) 41 to
submit that the land which is situated within the municipal limits of a town has to
be evaluated as urban property for the purpose of determination of value thereof
and cannot be treated as agricultural and in such a situation, even small sale deeds
can also be relied upon.
On the other hand, learned counsel for the respondents submitted that
the award of the learned Court below does not call for any interference as fair
value of the land has been assessed considering the entire material on record. The
small transactions, forming part of the sale deeds relied upon by the land owners,
measuring from 8 marlas to 2 kanals 8 marlas could not be relied upon for
determination of fair value of the land in the present case which is 59 kanals 8
marlas.
Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record.
It is an admitted position on record that the area in question was
within the municipal limits since 1972. The acquisition was carried out on
18.7.1983. The area acquired is also not a very big chunk of land as the same is 59
R.F.A. No. 570 of 1988 [ 3]
kanals 8 marlas. The land owners relied upon various sale deeds . However, some
of them, namely, Ex. A.2, A.3, A.4, A.5, A.7, A.10 and A.11 had rightly been
rejected by the Court below for the reason that the land forming part thereof was
situated almost one kilometer away from the acquired land. Another good reason
for rejection thereof is that the transactions showing sale of land within about 250
yards of the acquired property were available in comparison thereof and in such a
situation, the same could be the best piece of evidence as against the sale deeds in
which the land is situated almost one kilometer away from the acquired land. It is
also evident from site plan (Ex.A.W.3/A) that the land in question is situated on
the main road. A perusal of the site plan (Ex.R.1), produced by the State, shows
that the sale deeds produced by the land owners are not situated on the road, rather,
the same are inside the streets which as such could not be relied upon for the
purpose of determination of the fair value of the land which is situated on the main
road. The land shown in site plan (Ex.A.1) and also the land which was dealt with
in Ex. A.8, A.9, A.13 and A.15, are situated close to the acquired land and is not
situated on the main road, rather inside the street. Keeping in view the fact that the
land in question is part of the municipal limits, the sale transactions of small plots
of land could very well be relied upon by applying appropriate cut therein. If the
average of sale price of sale deeds (Ex.A.8, A.9, A.13 and A.15) is considered, the
same comes to Rs. 1,10,000/- per acre. Even if a cut of 50% is imposed thereon,
the value of the land can very well be determined at Rs. 55,000/- per acre on the
date of acquisition considering its location and potential.
In view of the above, in my considered opinion, it would be just and
fair to assess the value of the land at Rs. 55,000/- per acre on the date of
acquisition. The land owners shall also be entitled to stautory benefits available to
them under the Act.
Accordingly, the appeals filed by the land owners are allowed,
whereas the appeal filed by the State is dismissed.
(Rajesh Bindal)
Judge
September 24 , 2008
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