IMPORTANT POINT
Commercial potential of the land is important factor for deciding compensation of land under acquisition.

JUDGMENT

V.S. Sirpurkar, J. —

1. This Judgment will dispose of Civil Appeal Nos.2461-2465 of 2000 filed by the State of Haryana as also the other Civil Appeals being Civil Appeal Nos.2466/2000, Civil Appeal No.2467/2000, Civil Appeal No.2468/2000, Civil Appeal No.2469/2000 and Civil Appeal No.2470/2000 which have been filed by the private parties against the State of Haryana complaining against the impugned judgment dated 5th November, 1998 passed by the Division Bench of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana.

2. The subject matter in all the appeals is common, i.e., quantum of compensation payable for the lands acquired from Villages Ratgal, Sunderpur and Palwal. The total land which was acquired was 185 Kanals 13 Marlas. The appellants in Civil Appeal Nos.2466 to 2470 of 2000 are the land owners. The land was acquired for the public purpose of establishing Government Ayurvedic College and Pharmacy at Kurukshetra. Section 4 Notification under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”) was issued on 8th February, 1983 while notification under Section 6 was published on 11th May, 1983. The Award was announced by the Collector on 30th March, 1984 who assessed the compensation at the rate of Rs.40,000/- per acre in respect of “Chahi” land and Rs.25,000/- per acre with regard to “Ghair Mumkin” land. The land owners applied for a Reference under Section 18 of the Act. The Reference was accordingly placed before the Additional District Judge who passed his Award on 27th February, 1985 and held that the market value should have been at the rate of Rs.15 per square yard. Thus the compensation at the rate of Rs.72,600/- per acre was awarded by the Additional District Judge besides the statutory benefits. Some of the land owners were given additional compensation at the rate of 25% in respect of their unacquired land on account of severance caused by acquisition. Not satisfied with the Award, the land owners filed appeals before the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh.

3. The learned Single Judge vide his judgment dated 26th May, 1988 found that the value of the land was Rs.20.59 per square yard and accordingly fixed the market value at Rs.99,668/- per acre. Further appeals were filed before the Division Bench by the land owners.

4. In all five Letter Patent Appeals came to be filed before the Division Bench. Three land owners preferred applications (in the Judgment in RFA No.7 of 1982) for permission to enhance the claim as also to produce additional evidence and the Award given by the District Judge in Land Acquisition Case No.22/4 of 1990. These documents were produced along with applications as Annexures A-1 and A-2. The Division Bench considered both the documents, however, it did not find any justification for the claim made on behalf of the land owners. It, however, considered the two Sale deeds executed in January and March, 1981, which were on record. It was noted that there was no evidence to suggest that the market value of the land was less than the one evidenced in the two sale deeds. Therefore, the Division Bench ordered an increase of 12% per annum for a period of two years and rounded off the market value of the land at Rs.1,25,000/- per acre. The other benefits granted by the learned Single Judge were also maintained.

5. Now the Government of Haryana as also the private appellants have come up before us by way of the present appeals.

6. We must first consider the appeals filed by the Government of Haryana but before that we must note that though the learned Single Judge has enhanced the compensation payable to the land owners from Rs.72,600/- per acre to Rs.99,668/- per acre, the Government of Haryana had accepted that judgment and did not file any Letters Patent Appeal against the same. The learned Single Judge had noted and taken into consideration Exhibits P-8 to P-16 being the Sale Deeds, Exhibit P-17 which was an advertisement issued by HUDA regarding allotment of plots, Exhibit