JUDGMENT

K. RAMASWAMY, J.—The common questions of law arose for decision in these appeals hence they are disposed of together. Notification under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act 1 of 1894 was published in the Punjab State Gazette on January 27, 1978 acquiring 89 acres 4 canals and 12 marlas of land situated in Dhuri village for public purpose, namely to set up new Mandi Township. The appellants claimed at the rate of Rs 30,000 per Bigha but the Land Acquisition Officer after classifying the lands into six blocks A to F, awarded market value ranging between Rs 30,000 to Rs 6,000 per acre. On reference under Section 18 of the Act, the District Judge, Sangrur in his judgment dated May 13, 1981 disagreed with the classification and found that all the lands are possessed of the same quality. Relying on sale deeds, Ex. P-3 dated September 4, 1972, P-5 dated June 14, 1976, P-2 dated February 23, 1977 and P-4 dated July 15, 1977, all small extents, he calculated at an average of Rs 1300 per Biswa and awarded to the lands belonging to Jaswant Kaur, Baldev Singh and Gurdev Singh at the rate of Rs 1,000 per Biswa finding that their lands are abutting abadi (village) and for the rest