HARI SINGH Vs. UNION TERRITORY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BY this common order, I shall be disposing of 271 Regular first Appeals bearing Nos. 2785, 2786, 891. 968 to 982. 1060, 1352, 1355, 1821 to 1814, 1841, 1982, 1983, 2024, 2533, 3837 to 3858 with X Objection No. 69-Cl of 2003, 3859 to 3868, 3470, 3884, 3885 of 2002, 96 to 107, 249, 250, 254, 267 of 2005, 2623, 2624, 2626 to 2628, 2630 to 2639 of 2004, 4005, 4470, 3988 to 4004 of 2001, 4175 to 4177, 4191 to 4196 of 2001, 5107 to 5118 of 2001, 5739 to 5744 of 2001, 2206 to 2250, 2281, 2282, 2313, 2362, 3932, 3958 of 2002, 1128 of 2003, 2438. 2440, 2442 of 2004, 2921 to 2930, 3494 to 3505 of 2003, 3659, 3662, 3663, 3666 to 3670, 3674 to 3678, 3680 to 3682, 3685, 3691, 3703, 3849, 3953, 4717 of 2003, 443 to 445 of 2005, 515, 775, 1211, 1212 of 2004, 1097, 1098 of 2003, 1493, 1494 of 2003, 840, 841 of 2002, 1552, 2291, 1950 to 1952 of 2002, 3924 to 3927, 3927, 3939 to 3931, 1053 of 2002, 1522, 2444, 2445 of 2004 and 1210 of 2004 with X Objection No. 108-CI of 2005 filed by the land owners/claimants as well as UT Chandigarh in which identical question of law and facts are involved. However, the facts are being extracted from RFA No. 2785 of 2002 titled as Hari Singh and another v. UT Chandigarh.

(2.) BRIEF facts culled out from the record are that vide notification issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short 'the Act') dated 15.5.1998 with a follow up notification of declaration issued under Section 6 of the Act dated 3.3.1999, land measuring 130.69 acres of village Jhumroo, Hadbast No. 260 was acquired for the public purpose, namely, for development of third Phase of Sectors 48 and 49, Chandigarh. The land Acquisition Collector, (for short 'the Collector') vide his award No. 530/LAO dated 24.11.1999, granted compensation @ Rs.4,70,000/- per acre for all kinds of lands except Gair Mumkin Khadans i.e. Nala, River Bed and Choe for which compensation was assessed @ Rs. 1,95,833/- per acre. Dissatisfied claimants carried the Objections filed under Section 18 of the Act through the Collector to the Civil Court for reassessment of compensation and in order to prove their case, examined Shamsher Singh, Field Kanungo as PW1, Sanjiv Kumar, Clerk, Finance Department as PW2, Narinder Varma, Clerk, Estate Office, U.T. Chandigarh as PW3, Baldev Singh, Superintendent Office of Chief Engineer as PW4, Kamlesh Puri, Sr. Assistant, Chandigarh Housing Board as PW5, Gurmeet Singh as PW6, Harnek Singh, Sr. Planning Draftsman as PW7, Sher Singh as PW8, Sunil Kumar, Patwari as PW9 and tendered into evidence certified copies of awards and sale deeds Ex. P42 to Ex. P50 and closed their evidence. The respondent, however, tendered into evidence certified copies of sale deeds Ex. R1 to Ex. R3 and closed their evidence. The learned Reference Court discussed the entire evidence but relied upon a previous award Ex. P48 whereby LAC Case No. 596 dated 28.7.2000 filed by Jeet Singh son of Mit Singh against the same acquisition, was allowed by Sh. S.K. Goel, Addl. District Judge Chandigarh and enhanced the compensation of acquired land from Rs. 4,70,00/- per acre to Rs. 9,07,500/- per acre for Chahi land and from Rs. 1,95,833/- per acre to Rs. 3,78,124/- per acre for the acquisition of land of Nadi, Nala and Choe. The learned Reference Court vide its impugned award dated 7.12.2001 awarded similar compensation in the present case @ Rs. 9,07,500/- per acre for Chahi land and Rs. 3,78,124/- per acre for Nadi, Nala and Choe.

(3.) SH . P.C. Dhiman, learned counsel for the appellants has referred to document Mark B on record, which is a decision of Single Bench of this Court in RFA No. 2169 of 1998 titled as Sukhpal Singh v. Union Territory, Chandigarh whereby compensation @ Rs. 5,50,000/- per acre with statutory benefits was assessed for the land acquired vide notification dated 11.10.1991 in the revenue estate of village Jhumroo for the purpose of development of third Phase of Chandigarh i.e. Sectors 48 and 49.