Adjacent lands must be compensated equitably unless clear distinctions justify differing rates, emphasizing fairness in land acquisition compensation.

JUDGMENT :

SURYA KANT, J.

Leave granted.

2. The instant batch of cross-appeals have been preferred by the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) and various landowners, challenging the quantum of compensation awarded by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh (High Court) for the land situated in the villages of Fazalwas and Kukrola, Tehsil Manesar, District Gurgaon, State of Haryana.

3. The High Court has conclusively determined the quantum of compensation through various identical impugned orders. However, for the purposes of lucidity, we have sought to refer to HSIIDC v. Pinky Yadav and others, RFA-4959-2015 (O&M) and other connected cases. and Kanwar Sain Jain and another v. State of Haryana and others, RFA-4437-2014 (O&M) and other connected cases. which may be considered as the ‘lead judgments’ for the villages of Kukrola and Fazalwas, respectively.

4. The aforementioned decisions have enhanced compensation for the acquired lands in both villages, specifically for the lands abutting National Highway-8 (Delhi-Jaipur Road) (NH-8), up to the depth of 5 acres to INR 87,24,885 per acre for Kukrola and INR 1,21,00,000 per acre for Fazalwas. Further, the High Court has also retained the compensation awarded by the Reference Court for lands situated beyond the marker of depth of 5 acres i.e. INR 62,14,421 per acre for both the villages.

A. FACTS

5. At this juncture, it is imperative to briefly advert to the factual circumstances giving rise to the instant appeals:

5.1 The acquisition proceedings for the subject lands commenced vide a Notification, issued on 25.04.2008 by the State of Haryana, under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (1894 Act), ,proposing the acquisition of a total of 3510 acres 5 kanals and 1 marla of land, spread across the villages of Fazalwas, Kukrola, Kharkhri, Bas Lambi, Mokalwas, Seharavan, and Fakharpur, District Gurgaon. The public purpose of the acquisition was to build Chaudhary Devi Lal Industrial Model Township (Township) . This Township was planned as an integrated complex for industrial, commercial, and other public utilities in this area.

5.2 Considering that the scope of adjudication in the present batch of appeals is limited to the rates of compensation qua the lands of villages of Kukrola and Fazalwas alone, we have deemed it fit to restrict this factual reiteration to these villages only. It is pertinent to mention here that out of the total area sought to be acquired by the common Section 4 Notification, 221 kanals and 4 marlas of land was situated within the revenue estate of Kukrola, and 435 kanals 14 marlas of land was situated within Fazalwas.

5.3 Following the Section 4 Notification, a declaration came to be issued by the State on 09.03.2009 under Section 6 of the 1894 Act, followed by notices under Section 9 thereof. Subsequently, the District Revenue Officer-cum-Land Acquisition Collector, Gurgaon (LAC) issued two different Awards under Section 11 on the same date, i.e. on 24.08.2009. The Award No. 20 pertained to Fazalwas, and Award No. 21 dealt with Kukrola. Both Awards uniformly determined the quantum of compensation for these villages to be INR 30,00,000 per acre, based on prevalent rates supplied by the District Collector, Gurgaon. Additionally, solatium at the rate of 30% as well as an additional amount of 12% per annum formed part of the Awards.

5.4 Being dissatisfied with the amount of compensation awarded by the LAC, landowners from both villages filed Reference Petitions under Section 18 of the 1894 Act. The Reference Court, vide its common Award passed on 19.10.2013 enhanced the compensation for Kukrola from INR 30,00,000 to INR 62,14,421 per acre. While doing so, the Reference Court primarily relied upon a sale deed, i.e. Ex. P-1 dated 05.06.2006, produced by the landowners. It granted an escalation of 10% per annum over the sale exemplar, noting the high potentiality of the acquired lands, and citing their proximity to the N