Punjab-Haryana High Court
Gurmeet Singh And Others vs The State Of Haryana And Others on 28 February, 2012
Author: Rajesh Bindal
Bench: Rajesh Bindal
RFA No. 1035 of 2008 (1)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA
AT CHANDIGARH
RFA No. 1035 of 2008 (O&M)
Date of decision : 28.2.2012
Gurmeet Singh and others ...Appellants
vs
The State of Haryana and others ...Respondents
Coram : Hon'ble Mr. Justice Rajesh Bindal
Present: Mr. M. L. Sharma and Mr. Praveen Bhadu, Advocates,
for the landowners.
Mr. H. S. Hooda, Advocate General, Haryana with
Mr. Hitinder Singh Lalli, Additional Advocate General,
Haryana and
Mr. D. D. Gupta, Additional Advocate General, Haryana.
Rajesh Bindal, J.
1. This order will dispose of a bunch of appeals bearing RFA Nos. 1035, 2646, 2647, 3137 to 3148, 4010, 5758, 5822 of 2008;
RFA Nos. 1802, 446 to 450, 454, 455, 1835 to 1843, 2878, 3384, 3540 to 3545, 3948 to 3952, 4132, 4519, 5939 of 2009; RFA Nos. 803, 1982 of 2010;
RFA Nos. 2951, 4740 to 4776, 5235 to 5251, 5290, 5291, 5452, 6071 to 6086, 6157 to 6167, 6878 to 6883, 7143, and 7329 to 7335 of 2011, filed by the landowners of nine villages, namely Ayalki, Dhir, Bhirdana, Rajabad, Boswal, Malhar, Fatehabad, Karnauli, and Hizrawan Kalan, Tehsil and District Fatehabad, seeking further enhancement of compensation awarded to them for their land acquired by the State of Haryana, for construction of Rangoi Kharif Channel from reach RD 68256-155450. The acquired land was in continuity as it was acquired for construction of channel.
RFA No. 1035 of 2008 (2)2. The State has not filed appeal against the award of the learned court below.
3. Briefly, the facts are that vide notification dated 16.4.2003, issued under Section 4 of the Act, land situated in the area of Villages Ayalki, Dhir, Bhirdana, Rajabad, Boswal, Malhar, Fatehabad, Karnaui, and Hizrawan Kalan, Tehsil and District Fatehabad, was sought to be acquired by the State of Haryana. The same was followed by notification issued under Section 6 of the Act. The market value of the acquired land as determined by the Land Acquisition Collector (for short, `the Collector') and further enhanced by the learned court below on reference under Section 18 of the Act, pertaining to land of different villages, is given below:-
Name of Date of Kind of Compensation Compensation Severance village award of the land assessed in ` assessed in ` per assessed in ` collector per acre by the acre by the per acre/ Collector learned court percentage below Akyalki 9.2.2004 Nehri 1,20,000/- 3,50,000/- Nil Chahi 80,000/- 2,50,000/-
Dhir 15.1.2004 Nehri 1,20,000/- 3,50,000/- Nil Bhirdana 9.2.2004 Nehri 1,40,000/- 3,50,000/- 25,000/-
Chahi 1,40,000/- 2,50,000/-
Rajabad 6.1.2004 Nehri 1,20,000/- 3,50,000/- 25,000/-
Chahi 1,20,000/- 2,50,000/-
Boswal 6.1.2004 Nehri 1,20,000/- 3,50,000/- 25,000/-
Chahi 1,20,000/- 2,50,000/-
Banjar 1,20,000/- 2,00,000/-
Malhar 6.1.2004 Nehri 1,20,000/- 3,50,000/- Nil
Chahi 1,20,000/- 2,50,000/-
Fatehabad 6.1.2004 Nehri 1,60,000/- 3,50,000/- Nil
Chahi 1,60,000/- 2,50,000/-
Tal 1,30,000/- 2,00,000/-
Karnauli 15.1.2004 Nehri 1,40,000/- 3,50,000/- Nil
Chahi 1,20,000/- 2,50,000/-
Hizrawan All kind 1,20,000/- 3,50,000/- 25%
Kalan of land
4. Not satisfied with the awards of the learned court below, the land owners are in appeal before this court.RFA No. 1035 of 2008 (3)
5. Learned counsel for the landowners contended that the award of the learned court below deserves to be modified to the extent that the entire land should be assessed at the same rate. The Collector had granted same amount of compensation for the nehri and chahi kind of land whereas the learned court below had differentiated in the value thereof, which deserves to be modified. The submission was that entire chunk of land was acquired for the same purpose i.e. for construction of Rangoi Kharif Channel from reach RD 68256-155450. The sale instances placed on record by the landowners for the purpose of valuation of acquired land are as under:-
Sale-deed/ Name of Date of Consideration Price per acre Area village registration paid in ` in ` Ex. P-26 Bhirdana 17.11.2000 2,60,000 2,60,000/- 8 Kanals Ex. P-27 Bhuttan Kalan 20.11.2000 4,95,000 2,47,500/- 16 Kanals Ex. P-28 Bhirdana 10.12.2001 7,500 2,92,742/-
4 marlas Ex. P-29 Bhirdana 30.05.2002 11,000 2,86,237/-
6 marlas Ex. P-30 Rajabad 12.2.2002 36,000 2,80,000/-
1 Kanal Ex. P-31 Aharwan 12.11.2001 1,50,000 4,26,902/- 1 K 10 M Ex. P-32 Karnauli 15.6.1994 5,04,900/- 1,65,418/- 22 K 19 M
6. It was further submitted that the learned court below has not granted any compensation on account of severance of land in all villages. Undisputedly, the land in question was acquired for construction of Rangoi Kharif Channel, which bifurcated the land into two portions. The submission is that it became uneconomical for them to cultivate the two portions of land as divided by the channel. The submission is that inspite of the fact that bifurcation of the land is undisputed but still the learned court below in some cases has granted severance but in some of the cases rejected the claim of the landowners. It was submitted that the landowners are entitled to compensation on account of severance. In support of the submissions, reliance was made to Smt. Narinder Kaur vs The State of Punjab and others 1980 PLR 473 and State of Punjab through Collector Kumerian Hydel Channel Project, Talwara vs Amar Nath and others 1988 LACC 310.
RFA No. 1035 of 2008 (4)7. On the other hand, learned Advocate General, Haryana, submitted that value of the land as assessed by the learned court below does not call for any interference. It is not the case set up by the landowners that the acquired land was fit for urbanization, as a result of which the land looses its significance of being nehri, chahi, banjar and tal. It was acquired for the purpose of construction of Rangoi Kharif Channel which is constructed in the interior where the land fetches value according to its quality. The land having assured source of irrigation certainly fetches more price.
8. The learned Advocate General further submitted that unless the landowners prove any loss having been suffered by them on account of acquisition of land, they cannot be granted any compensation on account of severance. It is a fact to be claimed and proved before the learned court below. The landowners having failed to do so, do not deserve any compensation of account of severance.
9. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the relevant referred record.
10. Notification under Section 4 of the Act in the present case acquiring the land of nine villages namely Ayalki, Dhir, Bhirdana, Rajabad, Boswal, Malhar, Fatehabad, Karnauli, and Hizrawan Kalan, Tehsil and District Fatehabad, for construction of Rangoi Kharif Channel from RD 68256-155450 was issued on 16.4.2003. The acquired land was in continuity. The State in its wisdom did not think it proper even to place before the learned court below a site plan showing the location of the land and the entire lay out plan of Channel. Such a plan would have helped the court to appropriately assess the location, value and potentiality of the land.
11. The landowners in the present case have sought to place reliance on the sale-deeds, as has been noticed in para 5 of the judgment. The relevance thereof has not been disputed by the learned Advocate General. The sale-deeds of five villages, namely, Bhirdana, Bhuttan Kalan, Rajabad, Aharwan, and Karnauli, show the average sale consideration in the range of ` 1,65,418/- per acre to ` 4,26,902/- per acre. The learned court below has awarded ` 3,50,000/- per acre for nehri kind of land whereas for RFA No. 1035 of 2008 (5) the chahi kind of land the compensation was assessed @ ` 2,50,000/- per acre. Though the Collector in the present case had assessed the compensation for the acquired land of all the villages at the same rate for Chahi and Nehri kinds of land i.e. @ ` 1,20,000/- per acre, except for villages Bhirdana, Fatehabad, Karnauli, where the amount of compensation was assessed ranging from ` 1,40,000/- to ` 1,60,000/- per acre. There cannot possibly be any mathematical precision in assessment of compensation for the acquired land.
12. The State Government had come up with a policy dated 28.4.2005, providing minimum compensation @ ` 5,00,000/- per acre in cases where the award of the Collector was passed on or after 5.3.2005 irrespective of date of notification under Section 4 of the Act. In the present case, the awards of the Collector were announced on different dates i.e. 6.1.2004, 15.1.2004, 9.2.2004, and the date of applicability as per the policy is 5.3.2005.
13. In villages Boswal and Fatehabad some small portion of land was categorized as Banjar and Tal.
14. The State has not filed appeal against the award of the learned court below assessing compensation @ ` 3,50,000/- per acre for nehri kind of land. Considering the aforesaid facts, in my opinion, the entire acquired land deserves to be assessed at the same rate i.e. ` 3,50,000/- per acre, including the land which has been categorized by the Collector as Banjar and Tal as the area acquired of these types of land is quite small and further it is located in continuation with Nehri/ Chahi kinds of land.
15. As far as award of compensation on account of severance is concerned, as has been noticed above, the learned court below had awarded severance to the landowners of villages Bhirdana, Rajabad, Boswal, whose land has been bifurcated on account of acquisition, @ ` 25,000/- per acre and @ 25% to the landowners of village Hizrawan Kalan. The State Government has not impugned those awards. Other landowners, whose land has also been bifurcated, cannot be discriminated as there is no good reason therefor. Otherwise also, the landowners whose one small piece of land divided into two small parts situated on both sides of the channel will RFA No. 1035 of 2008 (6) certainly make it difficult for him to cultivate the same. Considering the aforesaid facts, in my opinion, all the landowners, whose land has been divided into two portions shall be entitled to damages on account of severance at the uniform rate of 25% of the value of the acquired land as has been granted to the landowners of villages Bhirdana, Rajabad, Boswal and Hizrawan Kalan.
16. For the reasons mentioned above, the appeals filed by the landowners are allowed. The landowners are held entitled compensation for all kinds of land @ ` 3,50,000/- per acre. They shall also be entitled to all statutory benefits available under the Act. As far as award of compensation on account of severance is concerned, the landowners, whose land has been bifurcated into two parts with the acquisition, shall be entitled to compensation @ 25% of the value of the acquired land per acre.
17. The appeals stand disposed of.
28.2.2012 ( Rajesh Bindal ) vs Judge