RAJWANT SINGH Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE appeals arising out of various awards passed by the Additional District Judge, Karnal i.e. the reference Court deciding various references under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act I of 1894 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"), have been placed before me pursuant to remand order dated 16.12.2004 passed by a Hon'ble Division Bench of this Court in LPA No. 441 of 1985.

(2.) EARLIER these appeals were decided by a Single Judge of this Court vide judgment dated 28.11.1984 passed in RFA No. 890 of 1983 and other connected matters. An LPA being LPA No. 441 of 1985 came to be preferred by the claimants/land owners challenging the judgment of learned Single Judge claiming higher rate of compensation than allowed by the learned Single Judge. The Division Bench of this court remanded the matter for fresh adjudication.

(3.) STATE of Haryana with a view to develop the Urban Estate at Karnal initiated process for compulsory acquisition of the land in and around the municipal limits of Karnal. First Notification under Section 4 of the Act for acquisition of the land came to be issued in the year 1973 precisely on 02.05.1973. At the relevant time, the reference Court i.e. Additional District Judge, Karnal awarded the compensation of the land at the rate of Rs. 20/- per squire yard which was enhanced to Rs. 22/- per squire yard by this Court. This land was converted into Sector 13. In its drive to develop more and more areas for annexing with the Urban areas, another Notification under Section 4 of the Act came to be issued on 04.06.1980 which was followed by Notifications dated 13.05.1981, 22.06.1982 and 05.07.1982. On completion of the acquisition proceedings, various patches of land around Karnal were acquired and consequential awards made and published in terms of Section 11 of the Act. The Land Acquisition Collector determined the rate of compensation at Rs. 28512/- per acre for Chahi Nehri Land, Rs. 22080/- per acre for Barani, Rs. 14200/- per acre for Banjar Qadim land and Rs. 13440/- per acre for Ghair Mumkin land, in respect to land acquired under Notification dated 04.06.1980, at Rs. 80,000/- per acre for Nehri/Chahi Land and Rs. 50,000/- per acre for Gair Mumkin land in respect to land acquired under Notification dated 13.03.1981, at Rs. 86,000/- per acre in respect to land acquired under Notification dated 22.06.1982 and Rs. 86,000/- in respect to land acquired under Notification dated 05.07.1982. Dissatisfied with the rates determined by the Collector, land owners sought Reference under Section 18 of the Act from the Collector who made various References to the Additional District Judge, Karnal. These References were decided by the said Court on different dates. The Reference Court, after the evidence of the parties, determined the rate of compensation in the following manner :-