IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH and other connected cases Reserved on : 11.02.2025 Date of decision: 11.03.2025 Mohinder Singh and others ..Appellants Versus State of Haryana and others ..Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ANIL KSHETARPAL Present:- Mr. Vijay Kumar Jindal, Senior Advocate with Mr. Abhishek ShuklaAdvocate for the appellant(s)

Mr. Surya Pratap Singh, Advocate Ms. Supriya Arora, Advocate for the landowners in RFA-5257-2015 Mr Bhag Singh, Advocate for the landowners in RFA-5257, 5259, 5262, 5261, 5265, 5264 and 2222 of 2014 Mr. Sanjay Jain, Advocate for the appellant in RFA-6420-2015 Mr. Arun Gosain, Senior Panel counsel for UOI Mr. Pardeep Solath, Advocate Mr. Sunny Deep Juneja, Advocate for appellant in RFA-2220, 2221, 2219, 2223 of 2016 and for respondent no.1 in RFA-767, 771, 773 and 774 of 2016 for respondent no.1 to 8 in RFA-764-2016 ANIL KSHETARPAL, J.

1. Prelude:-

1.1 With the consent of the learned counsel representing the parties, a batch of 33 connected appeals (details whereof are at the foot of the judgment) shall stand disposed of by this common order.

1.2 Assessment of the market value of the acquired land is the only issue involved in these cross appeals, which have been filed by the landowners as well as beneficiary of the acquisition namely Union of India.

1.3 The relevant and necessary particulars of the acquisition are as under:-

06.10.2008 Date of notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 was issued proposing to acquire 66 acres 5 kanals 9 marlas land located in Village Panjokhra, District Ambala for BSF Battalian Head Quarter, AI Rule Battalian of Srinagar Frontier.

19.05.2009 Declaration under Section 6

27.10.2010 LAC vide award no.1 assessed the market value of the acquired land in the following manner Chahi 9 lakhs per acre Barani 8 lakhs per acre Bajar Kadim 6 lakhs per acre

28.04.2015 RC assessed the market value of the acquired land at the rate of 28 lakhs per acre

2. Brief facts:-

2.1 The landowners claim that the market value of the acquired land was not less than Rs.70 to 90 lakhs per acre as it was located on National Highway no.72 leading from Naraingarh to Ambala which had great potential for developing into residential as well as commercial property. It is located at a distance of 4 kms from the residential area of Baldev Nagar, Garnala, Mandhore, Jamitpur and Panjokhra. There are number of commercial establishments, factories, marriage palaces, schools, near the acquired land. State of Haryana has claimed that the amount assessed by the Land Acquisition Collector (hereinafter referred to as ‘LAC’) is in accordance with law.

2.2 In order to prove their case, the landowners examined PW1 Dharam Pal and PW2 Surinder Mohan Mittal, Registered Architect. They also produced layout plan Ex.P1 and sale deed dated 16.06.2008 of 4 kanals land for total price consideration of Rs.35 lakhs. State of Haryana examined RW1 Manish Sehgal, Patwari and produced two sale deeds Ex.R1 (24.12.2007) and R2 (26.09.2007). The Reference Court (hereinafter referred to as ‘RC’) has relied upon sale instance Ex.P2 to assess the market value of the acquired land but ordered deduction of 60% from its price. The sale deeds Ex.R1 and R2 have been excluded from consideration on the ground that these are reflecting the price lower than the amount offered by the LAC.

3. Arguments addressed:-

3.1 Learned counsel representing the appellants submits that sale instance Ex.P2 is of the acquired land and half acre of the land has been sold. He submits that the RC has erred in deducting 60% from the aforesaid exemplar sale deed.

3.2 Per contra, learned counsel representing the UOI relies upon sale instance R1 and R2 to contend that the market value of the acquired land was nearly Rs.8 lakhs per acre.

4. Discussion & Analyses:-

4.1 At this stage, the relevant information of the exampler sale deeds produced is compiled as under:-