The main legal point established in the judgment is the assessment of market value under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, and the influence of previous valuations and dismissals of cross appeals on the court's decision.

JUDGMENT

G.S. Sandhawalia, J —The present judgment shall dispose of 8 appeals i.e. RFA Nos.82, 659 and 1942 of 2002; 5793 of 2001; 111, 2520, 2646 of 2003; 192 of 2006 and 3060 of 2007 filed both by the State and by the land owners seeking reduction and enhancement respectively since the Reference Court decided the petition under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (in short 'the Act') on 28.08.2001 and 13.10.2001, 28.08.2001, 18.12.2001 28.09.2002, 24.03.2003 and 22.10.2005. Facts are being taken from RFA No. 82 of 2002, Ashok Khurana vs. State of Haryana.

2. In principle, the Reference Court, in all the cases, has assessed the market value of the land in question @ Rs.178.40 per square yard which translates to Rs. 8,63,456/- per acre. The reasoning given by the Reference Court is that on an earlier occasion on 31.07.2001, the award had been passed in similar circumstances in L.A. Case No. 123 of 1997 titled as Suresh Kumar vs. State of Haryana. The notification in question under Section 4 dated 02.03.1993 is common to the set of cases for acquisition of land in the revenue estate of village Taraf Afgan, Malik Ugra Kheri and Ugra Kheri at Panipat was, thus, the exemplar relied upon by the Reference Court to follow the earlier view taken to peg the market value at the above mentioned rate. The Collector, vide the award dated 28.02.1996, had assessed the market value of the 3 villages at the following rates:-

3. The said rates, as noticed, have been enhanced by the Reference Court on an earlier occasion in Suresh Kumar's case and respectively followed thereafter.

4. It is not disputed that in an earlier bunch of 158 cases, the lead case of which was RFA No. 4778 of 2001, Daljeet Singh vs. State of Haryana and another decided on 03.02.2010, the Co-ordinate Bench assessed the valuation of the entire acquired land @ Rs.206 per square yard with all statutory benefits. The relevant portion reads thus:-

"The relief granted to the land owners in this bunch of appeals is summed up as under:-

(i) As far as valuation of entire acquired land is concerned, the same is determined at Rs. 206/- per square yard with all statutory benefits thereon.

(ii) The claim regarding damages on account of severance is rejected.

(iii) The Land owners in RFA Nos. 938 and 940 of 2002 have been held entitled to compensation for the acquired land to the extent, the amount has been spent on the purchase thereof plus 9%, on account of time gap along with statutory benefits.

(iv) Claim regarding damages under Section 48 of the Act is rejected.

The appeals and cross-objections are disposed of accordingly."

5. In such circumstances, even four cross appeals filed by the State of Haryana seeking reduction of compensation was dismissed on 06.11.2015, the lead case of which is RFA No. 5120 of 2001, State of Haryana and another vs. Krishan Kanihya and others. Similarly, the cross appeal of the State against the land owner Ashok Khurana was also dismissed in RFA No. 921 of 2002, State of Haryana and another vs. Ashok Khurana on the same date. The matter had been taken to the Apex Court by the State of Haryana in Daljeet Singh's case and the Civil Appeal No. 7493 of 2010 has also been dismissed on 04.12.2014. Resultantly, it is apparent that the market value has already been pegged at Rs.206 per square yard and, therefore, the land owners are entitled for the compensation alongwith statutory benefits in the same terms as Daljeet Singh's case.

6. Mr. Sandeep Punchhi, Advocate for Punjab Wakf Board also could not point out any f