Augustine George Masih, J.

1. Civil Writ Petition Nos. 7977 of 2006, 7444 of 2006, 7949 of 2006, 8319 of 2006, and 18162 of 2007 have been preferred by the petitioners (hereinafter referred to as the Claimants), whose lands stand acquired by the Amritsar Improvement Trust, challenging the Award dated 22.12.2005, passed by the Land Acquisition Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as the Tribunal), by claiming enhanced compensation, whereas Civil Writ Petition Nos. 15779 of 2006, 18182 of 2006, 20284 of 2006, 20288 of 2006 and 20289 of 2006, have been preferred by the Amritsar Improvement Trust, challenging the same Award with a prayer for reducing the amount of compensation granted by the learned Tribunal. As these writ petitions arise from the same Award, these are being taken for hearing and are being decided by a common Order.

2. Briefly, the facts of the case are that the Amritsar Improvement Trust (hereinafter referred to as the Improvement Trust) framed a development scheme known as Development Scheme for Ajnala Road area under Section 24 read with Section 28(2) of the Punjab Town Improvement Act, 1922 (hereinafter referred to as the Improvement Act) for an area measuring