123 (6 cases)

IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH RFA No. 2894 of 1998 (O&M)

and “05” connected cases Date of Decision: 13.11.2025 State of Haryana ...Appellant Versus Ran Charan and others ...Respondent(s)

CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HARKESH MANUJA Present: Mr. Abhinash Jain, Deputy Advocate General, Haryana for the appellant(s) / State of Haryana. Mr. Deepak Singh Saini, Advocate with Ms. Vamika Johar, Advocate for the respondent(s)-landowner(s).

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HARKESH MANUJA, J. (ORAL)

This order shall dispose off the present six appeals bearing RFA Nos. 2894, 2895, 2896, 2897, 2898 & 2899 of 1998, as the same arise out of common acquisition / award.

[2] The appellants-State of Haryana, by instituting the aforementioned appeals preferred under Section 54 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short “1894 Act”), are seeking setting aside of the award dated 29.04.1998 passed by learned Additional District Judge, Kurukshetra (hereinafter to be referred as “Reference Court”) while restoring the Award passed by the Land Acquisition Collector (for short “LAC”)

FACTS [3] Briefly, the facts are that in pursuance of Haryana Govt. Notifications dated 05.09.1988 & 21.02.1989 issued under Sections 4 & 6 of the 1894 Act respectively, some land owned by the respondents-landowners situated in the revenue estate of Village Buhawa, Hadbast No. 126, Tehsil Thanesar, District Kurukshetra, was acquired. The public purpose for acquisition of the land was stated to be for construction of road from Village Yara to Village Buhawa. The LAC, vide its Award, assessed the market value of the acquired land @ Rs. 32,000/- per acre for Chahi land; Rs. 24,000/- per acre for G.M. Bara land; and Rs. 8,000/- per acre for G.M. Gora Deh land.

[4] Dissatisfied with the aforesaid Award, landowners / interested persons filed references under Section 18 of the 1894 Act, which were accepted / disposed off vide award dated 29.04.1998 by the learned Reference Court, while assessing the market value of acquired land at the uniform rate of Rs. 47,884/-

per acre for the entire land alongwith other statutory benefits.

[5] Aggrieved thereof, the appellants preferred the present appeals seeking restoration of the award passed by the LAC.

CONTENTION(S):

ON BEHALF OF THE APPELLANT(S)-STATE OF HARYANA [6] Learned counsel for the appellant submits that the learned Reference Court went wrong while taking average of the sale instances Exhibits P-1 & R-1 to R-3. He points out that the market value was required to be assessed solely on the basis of consideration sale exemplars Exhibits R-1 to R-3 and not by taking into account the sale exemplar-Ex. P-1 which was merely for

3 marla of land and thus, the award passed by the learned Reference Court was required to be set aside, while restoring the award of LAC, which was in consonance with the market price of the land in question prevalent at the time of acquisition and even depicted form the sale instances Exhibits R-1 to R-3.

ON BEHALF OF RESPONDENT(S)-LANDOWNER(S)

[7] Learned counsel for the respondents-landowners submits that no interference is called for with the findings and reasoning recorded by the learned Reference Court. He submits that the sale instance dated 15.01.1987 (Ex. P-1), whereby 03 marla of land was sold for Rs. 2,000/- (i.e. at the rate of Rs. 1,06,666/- per acre), adjoins the acquired land and in case the reliance was placed upon the said sale exemplar and an appropriate cut was applied thereupon towards the smallness of the area involved therein, the respondent(s)-landowners were entitled of similar market value as determined by the learned Reference Court and thus, the present appeals are liable to be dismissed.

DISCUSSION AND REASONING [8] After hearing learned counsel for the parties and having gone through the paper-book / relevant record, no ground is made out to accept the prayer made on behalf of the appellant(s)-

State of Haryana.

[9] A perusal of the record shows that the learned Reference Court has recorded a