Rakesh Kumar Jain, J.

1. By this common judgment, 56 Regular First Appeals bearing Nos. 4304, 3527, 5091, 3529 to 3533, 3535 to 3540, 4258 to 4286, 4297, 4301 to 4303, 4305, 4525 to 4531 and 3528 of 2001 filed by claimants against the impugned award of the Additional District Judge, Gurdaspur dated 31.3.2001 are being disposed of together as identical question of law and facts are involved therein. However, the facts are being extracted from RFA No. 4525 of 2001 titled as Thuru Ram v. State of Punjab and others.

2. Vide notification issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short the Act) dated 12.1.1990, land measuring 23.83 acres in villages Jugial and Rajpura was acquired at the public expense, for public purpose, namely, for construction of Shahpur Kandi Hydel Channel from point A to A-l for the Shahpur Kandi Barrage Project. On the same date, another notification was issued under Section 4 of the Act and land measuring 23.94 acres of village Rajpura was acquired for construction of Shahpur Kandi Hydel Channel from point Al to A2 for the Shahpur Kandi Barrage Project. A follow up notification for both the acquisitions was issued under Section 6 of the Act on 28.2.1990. The Land Acquisition Collector (for short the Collector) vide his award dated 29.5.1991 pertaining to the acquisition of land measuring 23.83 acres, awarded the following rates :

Village Rajpura :

Nehri/Chahi Rs. 36,000/- per acre

Barani I Rs. 30,000/- per acre

Barani II Rs. 24,000/- per acre

Gair Mumkin/Rasta Rs.24,000/-per acre

Village Jugial :

Barani II Rs. 24.000/- per acre

In respect of acquisition of 23.94 acres of land, the Collector vide his award dated 26.9.1991 awarded the following rates for village Rajpura:

Nehri/Chahi

Rs. 36,000/- per acre

Barani I

Rs. 30,000/- per acre

Barani II

Rs. 24,000/- per acre

Gair Mumkin/Talab

Rs. 4000/- per acre

Gair Mumkin Abadi

Rs. 40,000/- per acre

Gair Mumkin Rasta

Rs. 24,000/- per acre

The land owners were not satisfied with the award of the Collector, therefore, they filed Objections under Section 18 of the Act and claimed Rs. 6,000/- per marla. On 27.3.1992, 19 references pertaining to the acquisition of the year 1990, were decided by the Additional District Judge, Gurdaspur and the market value was assessed @ Rs. 1,000/- per marla i.e. Rs. 1,60,000/- per acre after holding that the land was having potential value being adjoining to village Jugial Town which was having all the civic amenities. The State of Punjab challenged the said award of Additional District Judge, Gurdaspur dated 27.3.1992 by way of appeal in lead case bearing RFA No. 1927 of 1992 titled as Punjab State and others v. Thuru Ram.

3 The land owners in those appeals also filed Cross Objections. In the meantime, compensation that was awarded @ Rs. 1000/- per marla was paid to the land owners while the aforesaid appeals for the acquisition of the year 1990, were pending before the Reference Court. After remand, the State of Punjab issued another notification under Section 4 of the Act on 1.2.1993 and published it on 3.2.1993 to acquire 333.94 acres of land in villages Haroor, Barkula and Rajpura for the public purpose, namely, for construction of Shahpur Kandi Hydel Channel including Power House which was followed by a notification of declaration issued under Section 6 of the Act dated 17.9.1993. The Collector vide his award dated 21.12.1995 awarded the following compensation for the land of Villages Rajpura, Haroor and Barkula.

Village Rajpura

Chahi and Nehri Rs. 36,000/- per acre

Barani I Rs. 30,000/- per acre

Barani II Rs. 28,000/- per acre

Gair Mumkin Rs. 10,000/-per acre

Village Haroor

Barani I Rs. 30,000/-per acre

Barani II Rs. 28,000/- per acre

Bagicha I Rs. 32,000/- per acre

Bagicha II Rs. 30,000/- per acre

Gair Mumkin Rs. 10,000/- per acre

Gair Mumkin Abadi Rs. 30.000/- per acre

Village Barkula

Nehri Rs. 36,000/-per acre

Barani II Rs. 28,000/-per acre

Bagicha B II Rs. 3