The court modified the market value of acquired land to Rs.780 per sq. yard, emphasizing the need for proper factual assessment and justification in land valuation under the Land Acquisition Act.

HARKESH MANUJA, J. (Oral)

[1]. Vide this common order, RFA Nos.2799, 1994, 2604, 2800, 2801, 2802, 2831, 3122, 3123, 3124, 3125, 3214 of 2016 and 279, 280 and 281 of 2012 (O&M) are being decided as all the appeals have arisen out of common acquisition/Award involving common facts and question of law.

[2]. By way of present appeal(s), challenge has been laid to the Award dated 16.02.2016 passed by the Addl. District Judge, Faridabad (hereinafter to be referred as the ‘Reference Court’), whereby Reference Petition filed under Section 18 of the LAND ACQUISITION ACT , 1894 (for short ‘the Act’) at the instance of landowners was partly allowed while granting them market value of Rs.745/- per sq. yard as on 11.10.2004 i.e. the date of publication of notification under Section 4 (1) of the Act qua the acquired land besides awarding all other statutory benefits/interest in their favour.

[3]. Briefly stating, in the present case(s), land owned by the appellant/landowners situated within the revenue estate of village Patti Piyala, Hadbast No.54, Tehsil Ballabhgarh District Faridabad, came to be acquired vide Notifications dated 11.10.2004 and 30.12.2004 issued under Sections 4 & 6 of the Act respectively for the public purpose of development and realization of the land for setting up a POL Depot at Faridabad, followed by an Award passed by the Land Acquisition Collector (for short ‘the LAC’) on 17.02.2005 in terms of Section 11 of the 1894 Act, thereby determining the market value of the acquired land to be Rs.10,00,000/- per acre for plain area and Rs.7,00,000/- per acre for low lying area besides awarding statutory benefits. The total land under acquisition was around 48 acres.

[4]. Aggrieved thereof, the appellant(s)-landowners invoked Reference under Section 18 of the Act, which came to be disposed of by the Reference Court vide its award dated 12.01.2010, while determining the market value of the acquired land at the uniform rate of Rs.745/- per sq. yard, besides awarding all other statutory benefits.

[5]. The aforementioned award dated 12.01.2010 passed by the Reference Court was assailed before this Court and the bunch of RFAs with lead case of RFA No.1725 of 2010 were decided vide judgment dated 13.05.2015 thereby setting aside the earlier award dated 12.01.2010 and the matter was remanded back to the Reference Court for fresh adjudication. The operative part thereof is extracted hereunder:-

“In the present case, the Collector had given the finding that out of the acquired land, 34.18125 acres of land was low lying area, 0.66875 acres of land was passage and 12.875 acres of land was plain area. Collector had noticed/considered the khasra numbers of the plain area, low lying area and passage. The Collector had assessed the market value of the plain area of land at the rate of Rs.10,00,000/- per acre and for low lying area at the rate of Rs.7,00,000/- per acre. A perusal of the award passed by the Reference Court reveals that the Reference Court has not gone into the matter as to how much compensation was liable to be assessed viz-a-viz the plain area and low lying area. The Reference Court has given no reasons at all while assessing the market value of the acquired land at a uniform rate. The Reference Court while relying on sale deed Exhibit P-6 has failed to take in consideration the arguments raised by the learned counsel for the Corporation to the effect that the said sale deed was a fictitious document.

In view of the facts and circumstances of the present case, it would be appropriate to