STATE OF HARYANA Vs. CHATTAR DEVI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present judgment shall dispose of 79 appeals, 44 cases filed by the State and 35 filed by the landowners, under Sec. 54 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, the 'Act'), against the awards dtd. 2/1/2015, 9/9/2015 and 1/10/2015, passed by the Reference Court, Karnal.

(2.) Vide the said awards, the Reference Court has fixed the market value @ Rs.29,04,000.00 per acre (Rs.600.00 per sq.yard), enhancing it from Rs.12,00,000.00 per acre, as awarded by the Land Acquisition Collector. It is also pertinent to mention that initially a sum of Rs.8,00,000.00 per acre was fixed vide award dtd. 18/11/2010 passed by the Land Acquisition Collector and the second award was passed on 20/5/2011. The land was acquired vide notification dtd. 9/1/2009 under Sec. 4, followed by notification under Sec. 6 dtd. 9/6/2009, for the land falling in the three villages, namely, Kaul Khera, Popran and Jhimri Khera, Hadbast No.57 to 59. The public purpose of acquisition was for the construction of Khanda Minor from RD 0-38400 tail to RD 3940/R Muana Distributory.

(3.) Land measuring 11.54 acres in Village Jhimri Khera, 8.71 acres in Village Popran and 2.22 acres in Kaul Khera had been acquired. The initial award of the Reference Court dtd. 2/1/2015 has been followed in principal in the subsequent awards and the basis of enhancement was the Collector's rate (Ex.P-1), for Asandh Sub-Division, which was found to be Rs.600.00 sq.yard, for the residential area. Accordingly, on the said basis, the Reference Court had enhanced the market value of the land, by holding out that as per the share of the landowners which was less than 2 kanals in some cases and if they had sold their shares in the land, the sale deeds would have been got executed for at least the value of Rs.600.00 sq.yard. The claim for severance on account of Khanda Minor was rejected on the ground that the appellants had not led any cogent evidence to prove that their land had been severed due to the acquisition and there was no material on the case file that the acquired land passed through the middle of the land of the landowners and that due to the acquisition, they were left with land on both sides of the acquired land. The landowners had also relied upon 3 awards which were rejected on various counts by the Reference Court, mainly on the ground that it did not pertain to the village in question and the land of the said awards was situated at a far off distance from the acquired land. The market value of the said 3 awards in question ranged from Rs.400.00 to Rs.822.00 per sq.yard and the period of notifications ranged from the year 2007 to 3/6/2010.