Hon’ble Surya Prakash Kesarwani, J.—Out of these 36 appeals, 25 appeals arise out of the common judgment dated 23.11.2002 passed by the District Judge, Meerut in Land Acquisition Reference No. 39 of 1991 Basheshwar Dayal and others v. State of U.P. & M.D.A. and other connected references. Eleven appeals arise out of the common judgment dated 23.11.2002 passed by the District Judge, Meerut in land acquisition reference No. 88 of 1990 (Sri Sher Singh v. State of U.P. and M.D.A.) and other connected references. Out of these 36 appeals, 35 appeals have been filed by the Meerut Development Authority through its Secretary (hereinafter referred to as ‘MDA’) challenging the two judgments and order both dated 23.11.2002 passed by District Judge, Meerut. One appeal No. 311(D) of 2003 has been filed by the claimant, i.e., Sri Rajpal Singh and four others.

2. Various claimants have filed cross objections for enhancement of compensation by Rs. 49/- per square yard in addition to the compensation awarded by the reference Court at Rs. 126/- per square yard. One of the claimant Sri Rajpal Singh and four others have filed Cross Appeal No. 311 (D)of 2003 seeking enhancement in compensation from Rs. 126/- to Rs. 175/- per square yard. The status of appeals, cross objections and cross appeals arising out of the aforesaid two judgments both dated 23.11.2002 passed in land acquisition references are as under :

Brief facts of the case

3. Since the facts in these 36 appeals are common and arises out of one and the same acquisition notification, award and two similar reference judgments and as such with the consent of the parties the First Appeal No. 454/03 (arising from L.A.R. No. 39 of 1991) and First Appeal No. 444 of 2003 (arising from L.A.R.No. 88 of 1990) are treated as the leading appeal and accordingly the facts and evidences as brought on record in these appeals are being noted.

4. Briefly stated undisputed facts of the present case are that certain plots of land of village Kaseru Buxer and village Amheda Aadipura, Pargana, Tehsil and district Meerut were acquired under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter referred as the ‘Act’) for MDA for integrated development of residential/commercial buildings for “Raksha Puram Scheme”. The Notification No. 4259/11-5 -87-11-I.L.A./87 dated 14.8.1987 under Section 4 of the Act and Notification No. 4446/11-5-87/18 I.L.A./87 dated 4.9.1987 under Section 6 of the Act were published in the gazette. The notices under Section 9 in both the villages were issued on 27.2.1988. Objections were filed by the land owners who claimed that the market value of land in question is between Rs. 315/- to Rs. 500/- per square yard. While considering the matters for determination of compensation under Section 23 of the Act, the Special Land Acquisition Officer, Meerut has recorded in the award dated 22.2.1990, the location of the acquired land which fall within the limits of the N.C.R. Under the National Capital Region Board Act, 1985, as under :

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5. Out of several deeds filed as exemplar, the Special Land Acquisition Officer found only one exemplar to be relevant for valuation of land of village Kaseru Buxer and accordingly determined the compensation @ Rs. 90,750/- per beegha which comes to about Rs. 30/- per square yard. He also applied the same rate for valuation of land of village Amheda Adipura. He awarded solatium of 30% and statutory additional compensation @ 12%.

6. Aggrieved with the aforesaid award, the claimants moved application for reference under Section 18 of the Act objecting to the rate of land