Punjab-Haryana High Court
Haryana State And Another vs Gram Panchayat on 22 September, 2009
Author: Ajay Kumar Mittal
Bench: Ajay Kumar Mittal
1
R.F.A. No. 1527 of 1998
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH
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Civil Misc. 9313/C.I of 2009 and
Cross-objections No. 78/C.I of 2009
and
Regular First Appeal No. 1527 of 1998
Date of decision: 23.9.2009
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Haryana State and another --- Appellants
Versus
Gram Panchayat --- Respondent
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CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AJAY KUMAR MITTAL
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PRESENT: Mr. A.K. Rathi, Deputy Advocate General,
Haryana for the appellants.
Mr. Rakesh Nagpal, Advocate
for the respondent.
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AJAY KUMAR MITTAL, J.
At the commencement of hearing, learned counsel appearing for the respondent submitted that the matter herein is squarely covered by a decision of a Letters Patent Bench of this Court, rendered in L.P.A. Nos. 350 and 1046 of 2001 and the present appeal deserves to be disposed of in terms of the decisions in those appeals. 2 R.F.A. No. 1527 of 1998 The counsel further submitted that the respondent has moved Civil Misc. No. 9313/C.I of 2009 making the same prayer and also filed cross-objections whereby it has prayed that appeal preferred by the State of Haryana may be dismissed and the objector-respondent be awarded compensation as claimed in the reference sought under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short "the Act"). The respondent has also attached along with the Civil Misc. application, the decisions rendered in those appeals, as Annexure A-1 and A-2.
The Government of Haryana, pursuant to notification dated 25.9.1989 issued under Section 4 of the Act, had acquired 89.75 acres of land, including the land of the respondent-Gram Panchayat of Patti Kayasth Seth Kaithal and Bhaini Majra, for a public purpose, namely, development and utilization of land as residential, commercial and institutional area for Sector 19, Part-III, Kaithal. The land of village Patti Kayasth Seth actually acquired was 82.91 acres and that of village Patti Gaddar, Kaithal was 4.87 acres. The Land Acquisition Collector, vide award dated 26.2.1992, assessed the market value of the acquired land at the flat rate of Rs. 1,00,000/- per acre. The Land Acquisition Collector also assessed market value of the building, structure and the trees standing on the land, and awarded compensation of Rs. 1,44,00,634.59 paise which included the compensation for the acquired land also.
The Reference Court, vide its award dated 22.12.1997, determined market value of all kinds of acquired land at the flat rate of Rs. 2,70,000/- per acre besides granting statutory benefits available under the Act.
3R.F.A. No. 1527 of 1998
This appeal has been filed by the State of Haryana on the plea that compensation awarded by the Reference Court, vide award dated 22.12.1997 has been determined at a higher rate than the rate actually prevalent at the time of the acquisition of the land and, thus, the award passed by the Reference Court may be set aside and that of the Land Acquisition Collector, dated 26.2.1992, restored.
Learned counsel appearing for the appellants very fairly conceded that the question of settlement of amount of compensation in this appeal has been finally resolved in the above Letters Patent Appeals and the instant appeal as well as the cross-objections filed by the respondent deserve to be disposed of in terms of the decisions rendered therein.
A perusal of the decisions in Letters Patent Appeal No. 1046 of 2001 (Mohinder Singh Versus State of Haryana and another) and Letters Patent Appeal No. 350 of 2001 (Manohar Lal and others Versus Haryana State and another), decided on 9.9.2008, copies whereof are on record as Annexure A-1 and A-2, shows that in respect of the land acquired by the same notification dated 25.9.1989, issued under Section 4 of the Act, the Letters Patent Bench awarded compensation at the rate of Rs. 2,89,701/- per acre besides granting other statutory benefits . The present appeal is, thus, squarely covered by the decision of the above decisions.
In view of the above, the appeal filed by the State of Haryana is dismissed. The cross-objections preferred by the respondent are partly allowed in terms of the decisions in the aforesaid appeals. Consequently, the respondent-Gram Panchayat shall be 4 R.F.A. No. 1527 of 1998 entitled to the amount of compensation at the rate of Rs. 2,89,701/- per acre in respect of the acquired land besides statutory benefits available under the Act.
(AJAY KUMAR MITTAL)
September 23, 2009 JUDGE
*RKMALIK*