Rakesh Kumar Jain, J.

1. This Judgment shall dispose of 175 Regular First Appeals bearing Nos. 2936 to 3009 all of 2003 filed by the State of Haryana and another, and 530, 33, 531 to 542, 544,890,882,883,1113,34 of 2004,4418,4419 of 2003, 35, 36 of 2004,4420,4421 of 2003,37 of 2004, 4422 of 2003, 38, 39 of 2004, 4423, 4424 of 2003,40 of 2004,235 of 2005,41,42 of 2004,1530,43, 1531, 866,44,758,45,46,237, 47,238 of 2004,4416 of 2003,239,240 of 2004, 4417 of 2003, 241 to 246, 261, 522 to 529 of 2004, 4745 of 2003, 413 of 2004, 4642, 4746, 4643,4747,4649,4748,4650,4749,4651,4750, 4652 to 4655,4657 to 4660,4662 to 4664,4644, 4646, 4648, 4661, 4751, 4738 to 4744 of 2003 filed by the landowners/claimants, as common questions of law and facts are involved therein.

2. Land measuring 1003 acres situated in the revenue estate of village Khedar, Hadbast No. 127, Tehsil and District Hisar, was notified under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short,the Act) on 12.1.1996, published in the Official Gazette on 17.1.1996, followed by a notification of declaration issued under Section 6 of the Act published in the Haryana Government Gazette on 16.12.1996, for public purpose, namely, for the installation of Thermal Power Station, Hisar. However, on actual measurement on the spot, the acquired land was found to be 989.21 acres.

3. The Land Acquisition Collector, P.W.D (Power), Haryana, Ambala City (for short, the Collector), vide his award No. 2 for the year 1998-99 dated 7.12.1998 classified the land as per its nature and kind and awarded separate market value for each category, which is tabulated as under:-

Sr.

Nature of land

Amount per acre

1.

Nehri

Rs. 1,25,000/-

2.

Taal

Rs. 70,000/-

3.

Tibba

Rs. 55,000/-

4. The Collector also awarded compensation for the trees and super structure which existed over the acquired land at the time of notification issued under Section 4 of the Act. Since the landowners were not satisfied with the award of the Collector, therefore they filed objections under Section 18 of the Act in which it was, inter-alia, alleged that the compensation awarded by the Collector is highly inadequate because the potentiality of the land has not been appreciated. The acquired land is near abadi of village Khedar, Railway Station and Barwala mandi. Factories are also situated at a distance of 1 kilometer from the acquired land. The acquired land had residential, commercial and industrial potentiality having urban trapping but the Collector has wrongly categorised the land as agricultural. The land owners claimed the market value of the acquired land @ Rs. 10,00,000/- per acre at the time of issuance of notification under Section 4 of the Act.

5. The respondent/ State Of Haryana, contested the claims of the landowners and submitted that there was no residential colonies in the vicinity of the acquired land. Abadi of village Khedar, Railway Station , Mandi Barwala and factories were at a distance of 1 to 5 kilometers from the acquired land. Therefore, the acquired land was not having residential, commercial and industrial potentiality and was rather purely agricultural.

6. In order to prove their claims, the land-owners/claimants examined Manohar Lal Engineer and Valuer as PW1, Prem Singh son of Dariya singh as PW2, Subhash son of Telu Ram as PW-3, Mahinder Singh son of Fateh Singh as PW-4, Om Parkash son of Kanshi Ram as PW-5, Bharat Singh Assessment Clerk as PW-6, Prem Kumar Assistant Draftsman as PW-7, Om Parkash son of Hira Lal as PW-8, Mewa Singh son of Chandu as PW-9 and Thandi Ram son of Ujala as PW-10. The land owners also tendered into evidence documents Ex.P-1 to P-358. On the other hand, the respondents examined Jagmal Singh Patwari as RW-1, Yogeshwar Vohra, Junior Engineer as RW-2 and Dalip Singh Agricultural Development Officer as RW-3. They also tendered into evidence documents Exs R-l to R-28.

7. Although, only one material issue was framed by the learned Reference Court as to "what is the mark