IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH RFA-1951-2004 (O&M) Decided on:-02.09.2025 Gopi and another …..Appellants….

vs.

State of Haryana and another …..Respondents….

CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HARKESH MANUJA Present: Mr. Kulvir Narwal, Advocate, for the appellant(s) (in RFA-556 to 562 of 2005).

Mr. Dinesh Arora, Advocate, for the appellant(s) (in RFA Nos.1951 & 1952-2024).

Mr. Sunil Panwar, Advocate and Mr. Dhruv Singh, Advocate for the appellant(s) (RFA-2391, 2408 to 2410-2004).

Mr. Abhishek Yadav, DAG, Haryana.

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HARKESH MANUJA J. (Oral)

1. Vide this common judgment, the batch of total 13 connected Regular First Appeals are being decided as all have arisen out of the same award. The details of the connected cases are given on the foot of the judgment.

1.2 For convenience, the facts are being taken from RFA-1951-

2004 (O&M).

2. By way of present appeal, challenge has been laid to an award dated 27.05.2004 passed by the learned Reference Court-cum-Additional District Judge, Rohtak, whereby, reference petition(s) preferred at the instance of appellants-landowners having invoked Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for brevity, “1894 Act”), were partly allowed.

3. Brief facts of the case are that certain land owned by the appellants-landowners, situated in the revenue estate of Village Pilana, Tehsil & District Rohtak, was acquired vide notifications dated 11.06.1996 published on 02.07.1996, issued under Section 4 of the 1894 Act and the notification dated 11.03.1997, issued under Section 6 thereof, for the public purpose, namely, construction of Bass Lift Minor No.1. The total land under acquisition was 12.65 acres. The Land Acquisition Collector vide its award dated 06.01.1999, awarded the compensation at the rate of Rs.1,10,000/- per acre for Nehri/Chahi land and Rs.50,000/- per acre for Bhud, Banjar Kadami and Gair mumkin land.

4. Aggrieved of the award passed by the Land Acquisition Collector, the appellants-landowners along with others invoked separate reference petition(s) under Section 18 of the 1894 Act, seeking enhancement of compensation. Upon consideration of the material available on record, the Reference Court vide its award dated 27.05.2004, enhanced the market value to Rs.1,38,500/- per acre for Nehri/Chahi land besides granting all other statutory benefits including interest and solatium etc.

5. Feeling aggrieved with the aforesaid award passed by the Reference Court, the appellants-landowners preferred the present appeals, details whereof are mentioned in the foot of the judgment, claiming further enhancement towards market value and compensation.

6. Impugning the aforesaid award, learned counsel for the appellant(s) submits that the learned Reference Court failed to take into account the fact that even as per the stand taken by the respondents in their written statement, the possession of the land in question was taken from the landowners on 31.07.1986 and the market value was even assessed at the rate of price prevailing on 31.07.1986 only. Learned counsel submits that once the notification under Section 4 of the 1894 Act was published on 02.07.1996, the market value of the acquired land was required to be assessed as on the date of publication of notification i.e. 02.07.1996, rather than, as on the date of taking over of possession i.e. on 31.07.1986.

6.1 Learned counsel further points out that the Reference Court went wrong while discarding the sale instance dated 11.06.1993 (Ex.P-1) while observing that the same related to a small parcel of land measuring 18 marlas. Learned counsel submits that even as per the observation made by the learned Reference Court, the land under acquisition was near to ‘abadi’ and as such, after applying appropriate cut towards development cost over the sale price per acre in terms of Ex.P-1, an appropriate assessement of market value could have been made. He thus, submits that the award passed by the learned Reference Court was liable to be modified while granting su