IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH

1. CWP No.23705 of 2023 (O&M)

Date of Decision: 26.08.2025 CHAIRMAN, IMPROVEMENT TRUST HOSHIARPUR AND ANR.

......Petitioners Vs IMPROVEMENT TRUST TRIBUNAL AND ORS. ....Respondent(s)

2. CWP No.23707 of 2023 (O&M)

IMPROVEMENT TRUST HOSHIARPUR ......Petitioner Vs IMPROVEMENT TRUST TRIBUNAL AND ORS. ....Respondent(s)

3. CWP No.23749 of 2023 (O&M) CHAIRMAN, IMPROVEMENT TRUST HOSHIARPUR AND ANR.

......Petitioners Vs IMPROVEMENT TRUST TRIBUNAL AND ORS. ....Respondent(s)

4. CWP No.23751 of 2023 (O&M)

IMPROVEMENT TRUST HOSHIARPUR ......Petitioner Vs IMPROVEMENT TRUST TRIBUNAL AND ORS. ....Respondent(s)

CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HARKESH MANUJA Present: Mr. Kamaldeep Singh Sidhu, Advocate for the petitioner(s).

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HARKESH MANUJA, J. (Oral)

[1]. Vide this common order, CWP Nos.23705, 23707, 23749 and 23751 of 2023 are being decided as all the petitions have arisen out of common acquisition/Award involving common facts and question of law. For brevity, facts are being culled out from CWP No.23705 of 2023.

[2]. By way of present petition(s), challenge has been laid to an Award dated 31.03.2023 passed by the learned Improvement Trust Tribunal, Hoshiarpur (hereinafter to be referred as the ‘Reference Court’), whereby Reference Petition filed under Sections 18 & 30 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short ‘the Act’) at the instance of landowners was partly allowed while enhancing the compensation from Rs.1 lakh per marla to Rs.3 lakh per marla qua the acquired land as well as awarding other statutory benefits/interest in their favour besides, deciding the apportionment of compensation. Present appeal has been preferred at the instance of Improvement Trust Hoshiarpur i.e. the beneficiary.

[3]. Briefly stating, in the present case(s), land measuring 13 Kanals 17 Marlas situated within the revenue estate of village Sutehri, District Hoshiarpur, came to be acquired vide Notifications dated 27.12.2010 and 30.06.2011 issued under Sections 36 & 42 of the Punjab Town Improvement Act, 1922 respectively for utilization of the land as residential and commercial, followed by an Award passed by the Land Acquisition Collector (for short ‘the LAC’) on 30.12.2011 thereby determining the market value of the Gair Mumkin Cinema as well as Chahi land to be Rs.1,00,000/- per marla besides granting compensation to the tune of Rs.19,78,000/- for the super structures and Rs.44,001/- for the standing trees along with other statutory benefits.

[4]. Aggrieved thereof, the appellant(s)-landowners invoked Reference under Section 18 of the Act. Both the parties were permitted to lead their evidence. It may also be noted here that besides the dispute about enhancement of market value of the land under acquisition, the factum of apportionment of compensation was also in question. However, in the present writ petitions the issue involves only with respect to the enhancement awarded by the learned Reference Court whereby vide its Award dated 31.03.2023, the market value qua the acquired land was enhanced from Rs.1 lakh per marla to Rs.3 lakh per marla besides awarding all other statutory benefits whereas the compensation on account of super structures and the trees as awarded by the Land Acquisition Collector was upheld.

[5]. Impugning the aforesaid, learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the learned Reference Court enhanced the market of the acquired land without taking into consideration the evidence available on record. Learned counsel further submits that the Land Acquisition Collector assessed the market value @ Rs.1 lakh per marla for Gair Mumkin Cinema as well as Chahi land on the basis of value assessed by the Committee specially constituted for this purpose which was headed by the then Deputy Commissioner, Hoshiarpur and was comprising of Kamaljit Singh, representative of the Member Parliament, Hoshiarpur, Vinay Bublani Sub Divisional Magistrate, HS Dhami, Chairman Improvement Trust, Hoshiarpur and Rajiv Verma, D