Sureshwar Thakur, Judge

The aforementioned appeals arise out of a common award passed by the learned Additional District Judge, Una in land reference petitions, hence they are being disposed of by a common judgment.

2. The brief facts of the case necessary for deciding these appeals, are that the lands of the respondents, which were subjected to acquisition proceedings, are situated at village Panoh, Tehsil and District Una, H.P. In total, they measure 7-26-75 hectares and were acquired for construction of a railway line between Nangal Dam to Talwara. All the lands comprised in the aforementioned appeals are located in the same village and are contiguous to each other.

3. The Land Acquisition Collector vide common award dated 10.8.2001 awarded different/variant rates of compensation for different classifications and categories of lands.

4. The award of the Land Acquisition Collector was subjected to impeachment by way of the land holders/land owners preferring reference petitions under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act before the learned District Judge, Una, who assigned them for adjudication, to the Court of the learned Additional District Judge, Una. The learned Additio