Hon’ble Sudhir Agarwal, J.—All these appeals under Section 54 of Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter referred to as “Act, 1894”) read with Section 96 C.P.C., have arisen from common judgement/award and decree dated 3.11.2003 passed by Sri S.K.Bhatt, Additional District Judge, Court No. 3, Bijnor adjudicating nine Land Acquisition Reference (hereinafter referred to as LAR”) including LARs No. 56 of 1994, 215 of 1995 and 91 of 1994.

2. The number of concerned LARs in the present appeals are detailed in the chart given below :

S. No.	First Appeal No.	Parties Name	Land Acquisition Reference No.
1.	48 of 2005	M/s. Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. v. Jai Ram and another.	56 of 1994
2.	19 of 2005	M/s. Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. v. Hansa and others	215 of 1995
3.	719 of 2004	M/s. Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. v. Harkesh Singh and others.	91 of 1994

3. Since common questions of facts and law are involved in all these appeals, they have been heard together and are being decided by this common judgment. For the purpose of convenience and with the consent of parties, facts from the record of First Appeal No. 48 of 2005 (M/s. Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. v. Jai Ram and another), have been taken.

4. The Court below has determined market value of acquired land for the purpose of compensation at the rate of Rs. 120/- per sq. meter besides 30% solatium under Section 23(2) of Act, 1894 and interest for various period as per statute.

5. The actual dispute raised before this Court is about rate of market value determined by Court below.

6. M/s. Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (hereinafter referred as “IOCL”) is a company owned by Government of India and on its proposal, Government of India issued a Notification dated 26.6.1991 under Section 4 (1) of Act, 1894 proposing to acquire certain land at Village Tatarpur Lalu and Rahukedi Gadhu, Tehsil Najibabad, District Bijnor, for the purpose of constructing a Petroleum Product Depot of IOCL. Notification under Section 6(1) of Act, 1894 was published on 19th November, 1991 and possession of acquired land was taken on 5th May, 1992. The Special Land Acquisition Officer (hereinafter referred to as ‘SLAO’) made its award on 19th October, 1993 determining market value at Rs. 150,000/- per bigha (Rs.59.31 per sq. meter).

7. The SLAO determined market value on the basis of sale-deed dated 20.2.1990 executed by Sri Ali Ahmad Son of Rahim Bux in favour of Anil Bhanwar, son of Om Prakash transferring by sale Gata No. 87 area 3-12-01 for a total consideration of Rs. 5,40,376/-.

8. Dissatisfied with the aforesaid determination of market value, claimant/tenure-holders made application requesting for making Reference under Section 18 of Act, 1894 to the District Judge, whereupon LAR No. 56 of 1994, 215 of 1995 and 91 of 1994, with which we are concerned in these Appeals, were made.

9. The claimants said that acquired land is an abadi, near Degree College, Radio Station, Irrigation Department Residential Colony and Adarsh Nagar Colony. On the other side of acquired land, Railway Station Najibabad, its Residential Colony, Bus Stand and Abadi of Najibabad town exists. On the third side of acquired land there is abadi. It has great potential of development. On the one side of acquired land there, exist, factories of Thums Up, Card Board, etc. Therefore the land has potential of Industrial development also.

10. On behalf of claimants, besides documentary evidence, four witnesses namely P.W.1 Rajeev Kumar Sharma, P.W.2 Vijay Singh, P.W.3 Bhupendra Singh and P.W.4 A. Rahman were produced.

11. All the References were consolidated together and LAR No. 56 of 1994 was made “leading case”. Documentary evidence adduced by claimants included the following :

i. Certified copy of sale-deed dated 9.8.1989 executed by Harish Chandra in favour of Smt. Vijay Laxmi;

ii. Certified copy of sale-deed dated 28