JAIMAL Vs. HARYANA STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS bunch of 49 Letters Patent Appeals bearing numbers 1156 to 1166 of 1991, 312 to 334, 424 to 426 and 1236 to 1247 of 1992 filed by the land owners for enhancement of compensation awarded by the learned Single Judge can be conveniently disposed of by a common judgments as all these appeals arise out of the same acquisition proceedings and identical questions of law and fact are involved in them. Letters Patent Appeal 1156 of 1991 being the main appeal on the basis of which others were admitted, facts have been taken from this case.

(2.) LAND measuring 12131 kanals and 18 marlas in village Badho Rangran Tehsil and District Hissar was sought to be acquired by the State of Haryana for a public purpose viz. extension of Hisar Cantonment. A preliminary notification Under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 which was later followed by a declaration Under Section 6 of the Act on April 12, 1985 and the aforesaid land mentioned therein stood acquired. Land Acquisition Collector as per his award of September 17, 1986 awarded a sum of Rs. 20,000/- per acre as compensation for Nehri/chahi land, Rs. 12,000/- per acre for Tal/barani land and Rs. 8000/- per acre for Tibba/banjar Aadim/gair Mumkin land in addition to the compulsory acquisition charges and interest at the statutory rates.

(3.) STILL not satisfied with the amount of compensation awarded by the learned Additional District Judge the land owners filed Regular First Appeals in this Court for further enhancement in the amount of compensation. The State of Haryana also filed Regular First Appeals challenging the awarded to the claimants. All these appeals came up for hearing together before the learned Single Judge who after examining the evidence oral as well as documentary led by the parties came to a conclusion that there was no sufficient material on the record to justify any further increase in the amount of compensation awarded by the Court below. The contention that the acquired land had the potential for development into a residential area was also negatived because of lack of evidence in this regard. The learned Judge, however, found that the land mentioned in Chakbandi Forms 'a' came under 'command Area' which was entitled to receive water and therefore, the same deserved to be evaluated at the Nehri rates. After perusing the Chakbandi Forms 'a' Exhibits P1 to P13 and P26 to P32 the learned Judge directed that the land of the claimants mentioned therein which had been acquired would be assessed at the rate of Rs. 25000/- per acre the rate which was fixed for Chahi/nehri land. The appeals filed by the claimants were accordingly partly allowed and the appeals filed by the State were dismissed. The land owners were held entitled to proportionate costs as also to the grant of statutory benefits of the amended provisions of Section 23-1 (A), 23 (2) and 28 of the Act. It is this order of the learned Judge which has been impugned before us in the present appeals. It would be relevant to mention here that Union of India also preferred appeals against the order of the learned Single Judge claiming reduction in the amount of compensation determined by him but the same were dismissed in limine.