JARNAIL SINGH Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This order shall dispose of 2 appeals bearing RFA No. 1822 of 1993 titled as 'Ajmer Singh and Ors. v. The State of Punjab' and RFA No. 1367 of 1993 titled as 'The State of Punjab v. Ajmer Singh and Ors.' having been filed by both the claimants and the State against the award of the learned Additional District Judge, Ropar, dated 23.12.1992. However, facts of the case are being extracted from RFA No. 1822 of 1993 titled as 'Ajmer Singh and Ors. v. The State of Punjab'.

(2.) Vide notification issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 [for short "the Act"] dated 13.09.1985 followed by notification issued under Section 6 of the Act, land measuring 49.62 acres of village Majat, Tehsil Kharar, District Ropar was acquired. The Land Acquisition Collector [for short "Collector"] gave two separate awards, one for the land i.e. award No. 61-R/SYL dated 13.03.1986 and the other for the trees standing on the land i.e. award No. 62-R/SYL dated 13.03.1986. In the present case, the dispute is with regard to the compensation awarded for trees. The Collector awarded compensation to the tune of Rs. 63,598/- for fruit trees and Rs. 3,16,322.79 paise for trees other than fruit trees. The total acquired trees were 449 kinnow trees (in fact the No. is 447), 2600 eucalyptus trees and 3 shisham trees.

(3.) Aggrieved against award of the Collector, the claimants filed objection under Section 18 of the Act which has been decided by the learned Reference Court by the impugned order after enhancing the compensation of the trees to the tune of Rs. 19,40,327.50 paise, less the amount which has already been received by the claimants. The amount of eucalyptus trees was assessed to the tune of Rs. 13,00,000/-, whereas value of 447 kinnow trees was assessed to the tune of Rs. 6,40,327.60 paise. The learned Reference Court assessed the compensation with the following observations: