SHAKUNTLA DEVI Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This order shall dispose of aforementioned appeals as the same arise out of a common acquisition. The claimants/landowners have approached this court for further enhancement, whereas the State of Haryana has filed appeals for reduction in the compensation.

(2.) The facts have been extracted from RFA No. 825 of 2003. Briefly, the facts are that vide notification dated 11.7.1995, issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, 'the Act'), the State of Haryana acquired land in Villages Devinagar, Ban Madanpur and Jhuriwala, District Ambala, for construction of road between Sectors 3 and 21 and between 24 and 25, Panchkula. The Land Acquisition Collector assessed the market value of the land at Rs. 1,05,000/- per acre for Village Jhuriwala, Rs. 3,00,000/- per acre for Village Devinagar and Rs. 2,81,000/- per acre for Village Jhuriwala. Dissatisfied with the award of the Collector, the landowners/claimants filed objections. On reference under Section 18 of the Act, the learned court below assessed the compensation at Rs. 5,60,000/- per acre for the acquired land in Villages Jhuriwala and Ban Madanpur and Rs. 256/- per square yard for the land of Village Devi Nagar.

(3.) The land in the present set of appeals pertains to Villages Jhuriwala and Ban Madanpur. While deciding the reference, the learned court below relied upon an earlier award, Ex. P67, whereby the land pertaining to the same villages was acquired earlier vide notification dated 4.5.1995 whereas acquisition in the present case was vide notification dated 11.7.1995. It was further pointed out that the award, Ex. P67, passed by the learned court below, as was relied upon by the learned reference court, was subject matter of appeal before this court in RFA No. 2574 of 2002 titled as Tara Devi vs State of Haryana and another which was disposed of by this court vide judgment dated 27.10.2006 and considering the contentions raised by the parties and also the additional evidence sought to be produced by the landowners on record, this court while setting aside the award under challenge therein had remanded the matter back to the learned court below for fresh determination granting liberty to the parties to lead additional evidence as desired by them in accordance with law. In the present set of appeals, the learned reference court determined the compensation for the land acquired while relying upon an earlier award which was set aside by this court and the matter was remanded back to the learned reference court for fresh determination. The same deserves to be followed in the present set of appeals as well. In the present appeals also, the landowners have filed application for additional evidence seeking to rely upon certain other awards pertaining to other acquisitions in the vicinity. The learned State counsel did not dispute the aforesaid factual position i.e. reliance upon an earlier award by the learned court below and in challenge thereto, setting aside thereof by this court in Tara Devi's case (supra) and remand of the cases back to the learned reference court for fresh consideration.