INDER SINGH Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In these seven appeals (RFA Nos. 1561 to 1567 of 1982) preferred by the land-owner claimants against the award of the District Judge, it is the admitted position that for fixing the market value of the acquired land, as specified hereunder, the Court has depended on its earlier award Ex. A1 pertaining to the acquisition of the adjoining land in pursuance of the same notification published under section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act of 20 March, 1978 :-

(2.) The sole submission of the learned counsel for the claimants now is that since Ex. A2 pertained to the year 1974, i.e. about four years prior to the publication of the present notification, the claimants/land-owners should have been adequately compensated by giving a raise over the rate disclosed by Ex. A2 on account of the time lag that elapsed between the date of the said transaction and the publication of the present notification. However, it is the conceded position that the presently acquired land was a low-lying area which had been acquired for the purpose of digging a drain, and even at the time of the inspection by the revenue staff it was under water. In the face of this admitted position the learned counsel cannot, to my mind, raise any argument on the basis of Ex. A2, the land covered by which concededly did not suffer from any such disadvantage as the presently acquired land had. Otherwise also, I see no justification as to why the claimants are not to be treated in the similar manner as has been done vide E.A1.

(3.) For the reasons recorded above, I see no merit in these appeals and thus, the same are dismissed with no order as to costs. It is however made clear that because of the enforcement of Act No. 68 of 1984, the claimants would be entitled to the benefits of Sections 23-1A, 23(2) and 28 of the Act, as these presently stand. In other words, besides the market value, as determined by the lower Court, they would be paid an additional amount @12% per annum on the market value, solatium @ 30% of that value, and interest @ 9% for the first year of their dispossession and @ 15% P.A for the subsequent period till the date of payment.