LAND ACQUISITION COLLECTOR Vs. ROSHAN LAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS judgment shall dispose of RFA No. 2 of 2003 and RFA No. 69 of 2003, which have arisen out of Reference Case No. 77 of 1995 and Reference Case No. 76 of 1995 respectively decided by common award dated 5.10.2001 passed by learned Additional District Judge, Mandi.

(2.) THE facts, in brief, are that a notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short ˜the Act) was issued by H.P. Government and was published in H.P. Rajpatra on 1.12.1990 for acquiring land for public purpose situated in chak Gora Gagal, Tehsil Sadar, District Mandi for construction of Channel for Balh Valley Medium Irrigation Project. The land measuring 17 Biswas of Hari Singh and 1 -2 -18 bigha of Roshan Lal etc. was to be acquired under the notification. The Land Acquisition Collector (for short ˜Collector) announced the award No. 24 of 1994 on 31.8.1994 and assessed the market value of the acquired land at Rs. 14,000/ - per bigha. As per the award of the Collector, possession of the acquired land shall stand transferred with effect from the date of compensation is tendered. The respondents were not satisfied with the award of the Collector, therefore, Hari Singh respondent filed reference petition under Section 18 of the Act for enhancement of compensation which was registered as reference case No. 76 of 1995. Roshan Lal etc. respondents also filed reference petition under Section 18 of the Act for enhancement of compensation which was registered as reference case No. 77 of 1995. In both the reference petitions it has been submitted that market value of the acquired land has been assessed at a very low rate, the market value of the acquired land at the relevant time was more than Rs. 50,000/ - per bigha with a prayer that compensation of the acquired land may be determined in accordance with law. The respondents filed replies in both the reference cases and have submitted that adequate and reasonable compensation has been paid to the respondents/owners and, therefore, they prayed for the dismissal of the reference petitions. The following issues were framed in both the cases by the learned Reference Court :

(3.) I have heard Mr. M.L. Chauhan, learned Advocate General for the appellants in both the appeals, Mr. G.R. Palsra, Advocate for respondents in RFA No. 2 of 2003 and Mr. Lalit Sharma, Advocate for respondent in RFA No. 69 of 2003 and gone through the record. The learned Additional Advocate General has submitted that learned Additional District Judge has erred in enhanced the market value of the acquired land from Rs. 14,000/ - per bigha to Rs. 1,60,000/ - per bigha. The claimants in the claim petition have pleaded market value of acquired land more than Rs. 50,000/ - per bigha but learned reference Court has awarded at Rs. 1,60,000/ - per bigha which is more than what has been pleaded in the reference petition. The small area transactions have been wrongly taken into consideration for assessing the market value of the acquired land. The learned Additional District Judge has misconstrued and mis -interpreted the material on record. No deduction has been made while assessing the market value of the acquired land on the basis of small area transactions. The owners of the acquired land have been paid adequate and just compensation by the Collector, enhancement allowed by the learned Additional District Judge is not sustainable. The learned Counsel representing the respondents have supported the impugned award in both the appeals. They have submitted that after due appreciation of the material on record the learned Additional District Judge has rightly assessed the market value of the acquired land at Rs. 8000/ - per biswas or Rs. 1,60,000/ - per bigha.