JUDGMENT

Swatanter Kumar, J.

1. By this common judgment, we propose to dispose of the afore-noticed six Civil Appeals as they arise from different judgments of the High Court of Uttaranchal but are result of a common Notification issued under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (in short the `Act') and thus are based upon similar facts and documentary and oral evidence.

FACTS:

C. A. Nos. 7496-7497 of 2005 and 7498-7499 of 2005

2. On 30th January, 1992, the Government of Uttar Pradesh (now the State of Uttaranchal) issued a Notification under Section 4(1) of the Act for acquiring some land for a public purpose, namely the construction of Government Polytechnic Institute in the District of Dehradun. This Notification came to be published in the Official Gazette on 22nd February, 1992. On 18th April 1992, declaration under Section 6(1) of the Act was issued which was published in the Official Gazette on 12th May, 1992 identifying the land admeasuring 12.85 acres for acquisition for the said purpose in village Sewala Kalan, Pargana Kendriya Doon, District Dehradun, out of which lands admeasuring 4.58 acres and 3.031 acres belonged to the first and the second claimant respectively. In furtherance to this Notification, possession of the acquired land was taken on 7th July, 1992. The Special Land Acquisition Officer (in short the `SLAO') pronounced his award on 8th June, 1993. While determining compensation, the SLAO applied belting system to the acquired land and assessed the market value of the first belt admeasuring 0.56 acres at the rate of ` 9,78,223.40 per acre, second belt admeasuring 1.38 acres at the rate of ` 6,52,482.27 per acre and for the third belt admeasuring 10.91 acres at the rate of ` 4,39,362.70 per acre. However, the claimants, being dissatisfied with the award of the SLAO, filed applications under Section 18 of the Act which in turn came to be referred to the Court of competent jurisdiction (hereinafter referred to as the `Reference Court').

3. The Reference Court, in LA Case No. 386 of 1993, considered the list of 140 sale instances attached with the award of the SLAO. It noticed that the SLAO had relied on sale instance at serial No. 43 related to land admeasuring 0.094 acre for a total consideration of ` 92,000 and assessed the market value of acquired land at the rate of ` 9,78,723 per acre before applying the belting system. This sale deed was executed on 10th June, 1991 and the land was from the revenue estate of the same village but at some distance from the acquired land. The Reference Court also noticed the evidence of DW 1, Ram Singh, who had stated that ITBP quarters are located to the north of the acquired land; and to the east of ITBP Colony, is a 20 feet wide passage which ends on the acquired land. A high tension line of 1100 K.V. also runs near the acquired land. This witness admitted that the land in question was full of residential potentialities. Reliance was also placed upon the statements of PW7 and PW8 in regard to the urbanization of the surrounding areas and the potential of the land in question for building construction and residential purposes.

4. Out of those 140 sale instances, sale instance at serial Nos. 109 and 110 are stated to be the sale deeds executed on 26th November, 1991 and 27th November, 1991, which were heavily relied upon by the Reference Court. The Reference Court vide its judgment-cum-award dated 12th May, 1995 held application of belting system improper as entire land was acquired for one purpose, i.e. construction of Government Polytechnic Institute. It determined the market value of the land at the rate of ` 6,40,000 per bigha and after applying 20; deduction, enhanced compensation to flat rate of ` 5,12,000 per bigha along with other statutory benefits.

5. The State, aggrieved by the enhancement of compensation awarded to the claimants by the Reference Court, preferred appeals being First Appeal Nos. 920-921 of 2001, before the concerned High Court. The High Cour