Regular First Appeal No. 3692 of 1992 -1-
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH
Regular First Appeal No. 3692 of 1992
Date of decision : December 04, 2009
State of Punjab and others
....Appellants
versus
Lakhmo
....Respondent
Coram: Hon'ble Mr. Justice L.N. Mittal
Present : Mr. HS Gill, DAG Punjab for the appellants
None for the respondent
L.N. Mittal, J. (Oral)
By this common order, I am disposing of 10 appeals i.e. RFA
No. 3692 of 1992, titled “State of Punjab & others versus Lakhmo”, RFA
No. 3693 of 1992, titled “State of Punjab & others versus Rasalo”, RFA No.
3694 of 1992, titled “State of Punjab & others versus Dhanpat”, RFA No.
3695 of 1992, titled “State of Punjab & others versus Dharam Singh”, RFA
No. 3696 of 1992, titled “State of Punjab & others versus Bhagat Ram”,
RFA No. 3697 of 1992, titled “State of Punjab & others versus Puran
Chand”, RFA No. 3698 of 1992, titled “State of Punjab & others versus
Bhagu”, RFA No. 3699 of 1992, titled “State of Punjab & others versus
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Saini & Saffi”, RFA No. 3700 of 1992, titled “State of Punjab & others
versus Bhagat Ram” and RFA No. 3701 of 1992, titled “State of Punjab &
others versus Gammi”, as all these appeals have been preferred against
common award dated 30.11.1991 passed by learned Additional District
Judge, Gurdaspur, whereby 10 reference petitions filed by respondents
under section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (in short, the Act) were
disposed of.
State of Punjab vide notification No. 34849/2RSDW/603/S-
II/70 dated 7.11.1989 issued under section 4 of the Act and vide notification
No. 5884/2RSDW/603/SII/79 dated 6.3.1990 under section 6 of the Act
acquired 206.62 acres land in village Chamror, Hadbast No. 402, Tehsil
Pathankot, District Gurdaspur, for public purpose i.e. for reservoir area of
Ranjit Sagar Dam Project. Land Acquisition Collector, Ranjit Sagar Dam
Project, Sharpur Kandi vide award no. 90 dated 24.10.1990 awarded
compensation for the acquired land at the rate of Rs 9000/- for Barani-I, Rs
8000/- for Barani-II, Rs 7000/- for Barani-som., Rs 4000/- per acre for
Banjar Jadid and Rs 5250/- per acre for Gair-Mumkin. Respondents-land
owners whose land was included in the acquired land filed reference
petitions under section 18 of the Act. Learned Additional District Judge,
Gurdaspur vide impugned award dated 30.11.1991 enhanced the
compensation to Rs 45,000/- per acre for all kinds of Barani land and Rs
20,000/- per acre for Gair Mumkin and Banjar Qadim land (acre consisting
of 10½ kanals of land), along with statutory benefits in accordance with
Act. Feeling aggrieved, these appeals have been preferred by State of
Punjab.
Regular First Appeal No. 3692 of 1992 -3-
I have heard learned counsel for the appellants and perused the
case file whereas none has appeared for the respondents.
Respondents-land owners relied on sale deeds Ex. A/2 to A/9,
which are tabulated as under:-
Ex. Dated Village Area For Rupees Value per
marla
K. M.
A2 01/07/88 Dhar Khurd 0-10 5000/- 500/-
A3 20/6/89 Dhar Kalan 0-5 1000/- 200/-
A4 05/01/90 Thara Uperla 252 ft. 2000/- 1750/-
A5 21/8/87 Phangota 0-10 2000/- 200/-
A6 29/12/89 Thara Uperla 0-8 4000/- 500/-
A7 4/10/88 Thara Uperla 0-2 6000/- 3000/-
A8 4/10/88 Thara Uperla 0-2 6000/- 3000/-
A9 31/1/89 Thara Uperla 0-8 3500/- 438/-
However, the aforesaid sale deeds cannot be taken into
consideration for determining market value of the acquired land because
these sale deeds pertain to other villages and not to village Chamror where
the acquired land is situated. Even learned Reference Court has not placed
reliance on these sale deeds. Villages Thara Uperla and Dhar Kalan are
developed villages as per evidence brought on record, but village Chamror
where the acquired land is situated is 4/5 kilometers away from the
aforesaid developed villages as noticed in the impugned award of the
Reference Court. Consequently, land in village Chamror would not have
same potential as the land in developed villages Dhar Kalan and Thara
Uperla. Consequently, the aforesaid sale deeds relied on by the land
owners cannot be said to be comparable in terms of potential and therefore,
cannot be taken into consideration to determine the market value of the
Regular First Appeal No. 3692 of 1992 -4-
acquired land.
On the other hand, State of Punjab relied on two sale deeds, Ex.
R/2 and R/3. Sale deed Ex. R/2 is of village Hardosaran and not of village
Chamror where the acquired land is located. Moreover, according to the
sale deed Ex. R/2, the sale price comes to Rs 6000/- per acre only which is
even less than the market price assessed by the Land Acquisition Collector
for all kinds of Barani land. Sale deed Ex. R/3 of course pertains to village
Chamror where the acquired land is situated. However, according to this
sale deed, sale price comes to about Rs 5700/- per acre which amount is
less than the market value determined by the Land Acquisition Collector of
all kinds of Barani land. Consequently, these sale deeds also can not be
taken into consideration.
Learned Additional District Judge in the impugned award
referred to contention raised on behalf of land owners that the same court
had already awarded compensation at the rate of Rs 35,000/- per acre for all
kinds of Barani land and Rs 15,000/- per acre for Gair Mumkin and Banjar
Qadim land of adjoining villages of Phangota and Thara Uperla and
notification for acquiring the said land was issued in April, 1987 whereas
notification in the instant cases under section 4 of the Act was issued in
November, 1989. Consequently, on account of intervening period of two
and half years, increase of about 30% has been allowed by the Reference
Court for market value of Barani land and increase of 33% has been allowed
for market value of Gair Mumkin and Banjar Qadim land over the
compensation awarded for the land of adjoining villages Phangota and
Thara Uperla. However, this approach of the Reference Court cannot be
Regular First Appeal No. 3692 of 1992 -5-
accepted. Copy of the award whereby Reference court awarded
compensation for land of adjoining villages Phangota and Thara Uperla has
not been placed on record in the instant cases. Moreover, as noticed
hereinabove, village Thara Uperla is a developed village. There is colony
of 10000 to 12000 houses in that village having all kinds of facilities.
Village Chamror, where the acquired land is situated is 4/5 kilometers away
from village Thara Uperla as noticed by learned Additional District Judge
himself in the impugned award. Consequently, the compensation awarded
for land of villages Thara Uperla and Phangota could not be made basis for
determining market value of village Chamror, without any reduction. Land
in village Thara Uperla is of great potential being a developed village on
account of big colony consisting of 10000 to 12000 houses with all kinds of
urban facilities. However, land in village Chamror which is at distance of
4/5 kilometers from Thara Uperla would not have the same potential as the
land in village Thara Uperla. Potential of land for residential and
commercial purposes changes considerably with even small distance. In
the instant cases, no comparable sale instances have been placed on record
by either side. Consequently, compensation determined by Reference
Court for land of villages Thara Uperla and Phangota can be taken into
consideration by making appropriate deduction/reduction and for this
purpose, thumb rule has to be adopted to some extent. However, some
increase has also to be taken into consideration keeping in view the
difference of period of two and half years in the notifications for the land
of villages Thara Uperla and Phangota (April, 1987) on the one hand and
notification for acquired land of Chamror (November, 1989) in the instant
Regular First Appeal No. 3692 of 1992 -6-
cases, on the other hand.
Keeping in view the aforesaid, I am of the considered opinion
that 50% deduction would be appropriate keeping in view the potential of
land in villages Thara Uperla and Phangota as compared to the potential of
land of village Chamror. Accordingly, market price of the acquired land of
village Chamror is determined to be Rs 22,500/- per acre for all kinds of
acquired Barani land and Rs 10,000/- per acre for acquired Gair Mumkin
and Banjar Qadim land of village Chamror (acre consisting of 10½ kanals
of land). The respondents shall, of course, be entitled to all statutory
benefits in accordance with section 23(1A), section 23(2) and section 28 of
the Act.
( L.N. Mittal )
December 04, 2009 Judge
'dalbir'