The instant appeal has been preferred under Section 54 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, ‘the Act’) by the appellants State against the award dated 16.01.2015 passed by the learned District Judge, Solan, District Solan, HP, Camp at Nalagarh (hereinafter referred to as the Reference Court), with a prayer to set aside the impugned award. On the other hand, the respondents/cross-objectors have also preferred cross objections in the instant appeals under Section XLI, Rule 22 of CPC, for enhancement of the amount of compensation to the tune of Rs.48.00 lacs per bigha.

2. Briefly sated the facts of the case are that the land of petitioners, situated in Village Baddi-Sultanpur, Tehsil Baddi, District Solan, HP, was acquired by the respondents for widening of road leading to the site for setting-up Inland Container Depot (ICD) by the Department of Industries. In this regard, notification under Section 4 of the Act was issued on 31.03.2009, which was given wide publicity as per mandate of the Act. After complying with all codal formalities of Sections 6 and 7 of the Act, the Land Acquisition Collector passed Award No.1/2010 on 18.07.2011 and assessed the market value of the land. As per the petitioners, they had filed objections about acquisition of their land, whereby it was prayed that in lieu of the acquired land, they may be given some other land on the National Highway from Baddi up to Manpura in lieu of acquired land, however, their prayer for exchange of land was rejected by the Collector on the ground that no land was available on National Highway between Baddi to Manpura. The petitioners also averred that the potential value of their land had not been considered by the Land Acquisition Collector and the remaining land had become useless after acquisition of the acquired land as no commercial activity could be carried out thereon because the area of the remaining land was lesser.

3. Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the said award, the petitioners preferred a reference petition under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, with a prayer that the matter be referred to the learned District Judge for enhancement of the amount of compensation.

4. The learned Reference Court partly allowed the reference petition, vide the impugned award dated 16.01.2015 and held the petitioners entitled to additional compensation @ 12% per annum under Section 23(1A) of the Act on the market value of the land assessed by the Collector w.e.f. 31.03.2009, the date of notification under Section 4 of the Act, till the date of award made by the Collector i.e. 18.07.2011, alongwith solatium and interest on the enhanced amount of compensation. Hence, the appellants/State preferred the instant appeal under Section 54 of the Act with the prayer that to quash and set aside the impugned award dated 16.01.2015, passed by the learned Reference Court.

5. Learned Deputy Advocate General contended that the impugned award is based on surmises and conjectures, therefore, the same is liable to be quashed and set-aside. He further contended that the compensation at the rate of Rs.25.00 lacs per bigha, which has been awarded to the petitioner, is much higher than the compensation calculated on the basis of market value and the learned Reference Court has also wrongly granted the statutory benefits.

6. Conversely, learned Senior Counsel for the respondents/ cross-objectors contended that the impugned award passed by the learned Reference Court is on a very lower side and the value of the land was Rs.1 crore per bigha. He further contended that the respondents/cross-objectors were not interested for acquisition of their land, therefore, they had requested for grant of other similar land. He also contended that the learned Reference Court has failed to take into consideration that in Khasra No.850, out of the total 5.08 bighas, only 2.03 bighas have been acquired, hence, the rest of the land has become useless. It is submitted that the amount of compensati