Rajesh Bindal, J. - (1.) THIS order shall dispose of Regular First Appeals bearing Nos. 1084, 1242, 1382, 1383 of 1992 and 3548 of 1993, filed by the landowners for further enhancement of compensation and Rule F.A. Nos. 1258, 1259, 1260, 1261, 1262, 1263 of 1992, filed by the State for reduction in the compensation, as common questions of law and fact are involved. The facts have been extracted from Rule F.A. No. 1242 of 1992.
(2.) BRIEFLY , the facts are that vide notification dated 21.4.1987 issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, 'the Act'), land measuring 27.47 acres was acquired for development and utilization of the land for residential and commercial area for Urban Estate, Shahabad, District Kurukshetra, which was followed by notification under Section 6 of the Act on 20.4.1988. The award was given by the Land acquisition Collector (for short, 'the Collector') on 12.4.1990 determining the value of the land at Rs. 73,600/ - per acre. Dissatisfied with the award, the landowners filed objections which were referred for consideration by the learned Court below. Appreciating the material placed on record by the parties, the learned Court below vide award dated 29.11.1991 determined the value of the acquired land at Rs. 4,07,600/ - per acre. Still aggrieved, the land owners are in appeal before this Court for further enhancement of the compensation, whereas the State has filed appeals for reduction of the amount of compensation. Learned Counsel for the landowners submitted that keeping in view the location of the land, which is situated on Shahabad -Ladwa road starting from G.T. Road, having bright future commercial potential, the compensation assessed by the learned Court below is quite meager. In fact, another piece of land had already been acquired by the State for development as Urban Estate and the land under acquisition in the present case is situated more close to the G.T. Road as compared to the land already acquired. The submission is that the learned Court below had failed to consider the material placed on record by the landowners. It had merely relied upon an earlier award of the Court for acquisition of the land before the acquisition of the land in the present case and granted 12% annual increase thereon. In fact, there were sale instances available on record during the period from first acquisition in 1982 till the present acquisition on 21.4.1987. The learned Court below was required to consider this material for the purpose of determination of fair value of the acquired land. The formula of annual increase could be applied only in the absence of evidence on record. A reference has been made to Ex.P.3 to P.8 showing the value of the transactions ranging from Rs. 3,60,000/ - to Rs. 12,00,000/ -per acre. Referring to the evidence in the form of Ex.P.3 to P.8, the submission is that average sale price in all these transactions comes to Rs. 6,06,666.33 per acre and if a cut of even 20% is imposed, the value of the acquired land will come to Rs. 4,85,334' - per acre. If the highest of the transaction is taken into consideration at Rs. 12,00,000/ - per acre and a cut of even 50% is imposed, the market value of the land will come out to Rs. 6,00,000/ - per acre. Accordingly, the determination of compensation by the Court below is not in conformity with law.
(3.) ON the other hand, learned Advocate General submitted that the transactions, as are shown by the landowners, do not depict the correct state of affairs for the reason that these are for small plots of land purchased for commercial purposes abutting the main road. The rate, at which these transactions took place, cannot possibly be considered for the purpose of determination of fair value for the acquisition of a large chunk of land. He further submitted that the learned Court below was quite generous in enhancing the amount of compensation for the acquired land from Rs. 73,600/ - to Rs. 4,07,600/ - per acre which, in fact, call for reduction and not revision. Referring to the sale transactions in detail, as produced by the landowners, he submitted that barring one isolated transaction in the form of sale deed Ex.P.4 dated 26.3.1987 for six marlas of land, which was sold for Rs. 45,000/ -, the average price thereof comes to Rs. 12,00,000/ - per acre. The other transactions are ranging from Rs. 3,60,000/ - per acre to Rs. 6,40,000/ - per acre and the area involved is ranging from 7 marlas to 1 kanal 4 marlas. Elaborating further, he submitted that in sale deed (Ex.P.3) dated 24.6.1982, the area is merely one kanal and average sale price is Rs. 3,50,000/ - per acre. In sale deed (Ex.P.5) dated 26.3.1987, the area is 10 marlas and average price is Rs. 4,80,000/ - per acre. In sale deed (Ex.P.6) dated 7.8.1986, again for an area of 10 marlas, the average sale consideration is Rs. 6,40,000/ -per acre. In sale deed (Ex.P.7) dated 22.8.1985, the area is 1 kanal 4 marlas and the average price per acre is Rs. 4,00,000/ - and in sale deed (Ex.P.8) dated 12.2.1987, for 7 marlas of land the average sale consideration comes to Rs. 5,50,000/ - per acre.;