Judgment :-

Altamas Kabir, CJI.

1. All these matters involve a common question relating to claims for enhancement of compensation in respect of lands acquired under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, hereinafter referred to as "the 1894 Act", in several States, such as, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and the Union Territory of Chandigarh. In some of the Special Leave Petitions, leave has already been granted and they have been listed as Civil Appeals. Leave is also granted in all other Special Leave Petitions which are being heard together in this batch of matters.

2. For the sake of convenience, we have taken up the batch matters State- wise. The major number of cases are from the States of Punjab and Haryana and, accordingly, it was decided to take up the said matters first. We have, therefore, heard the matters relating to the State of Haryana before the other matters and for the said purpose, we have also selected some specific matters, the decision wherein would also govern the rest. Since in the State of Haryana, the lands acquired were from different districts, such as Faridabad, Ambala, Fatehabad, Hisar, Sonepat and Kurukshetra and under different Notifications published under Section 4 of the 1894 Act, we took up the individual cases of Ashrafi and Others vs. State of Haryana & Ors. Others, being SLP(C)Nos.24704-24712 of 2007, relating to the Notification dated 2nd August, 2009, and Sailak Ram (D) Tr. LRs. & Ors. vs. State of Haryana & Ors., being SLP(C)No.28686 of 2010, relating to the Notification dated 7th September, 1992, in respect of the lands situated in Faridabad. In addition, we also took up SLP(C)No.18588 of 2006 filed by the State of Haryana against Surinder Kumar and Others, in respect of the Notification dated 26th May, 1981, relating to the lands situated within the District of Ambala. Another matter relating to the District of Ambala, namely, State of Haryana vs. Manohar Lal Khurana, being SLP(C)No.11527 of 2007, relating to the Notification dated 2nd February, 1989, was also taken up separately. As far as the lands relating to the District of Hisar are concerned, the Special Leave Petition filed by the State of Haryana against Partap Singh and Another, being SLP(C) No.21597 of 2006, relating to the Notification dated 21st March, 1991, was taken up for separate hearing as also some of the cases involving lands in Sonepat, Kurukshetra Districts, in respect of the Notifications published under Section 4 of the 1894 Act, dated 20th April, 1982 and 17th September, 1993, respectively.

3. Some of the Special Leave Petitions (now Appeals) have been filed by the State of Haryana, which is equally aggrieved by the enhancement of the compensation assessed in reference under Section 18 of the 1894 Act. As would be evident shortly, the High Court almost on a uniform basis awarded compensation at the rate of Rs.235/- per sq. yard notwithstanding the type of land involved. Although a distinction had been made between "chahi" lands, "pahar gair mumkin" lands and "gair mumkin" lands while assessing compensation, ultimately, a uniform rate was awarded in respect of the different types of lands which had been acquired. Different reasons have been given by the High Court in arriving at the uniform figure of Rs.235/- per sq. yard, but what is important is that ultimately by applying different methods, the compensation worked out to be same.

4. In the case of Smt. Ashrafi & Ors., arising out of RFA No.99 of 1997 decided by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on 21st May, 2007, along with several other similar appeals, lands measuring 184.66 acres in village Mewla, Maharajpur, District Faridabad, were acquired for the development of Sector 45 in Faridabad. Notification was published under Section 4 of the 1894 Act on 2nd August, 1989. The Land Acquisition Collector awarded compensation at the rate of Rs.3,50,000/- per acre for chahi lands and Rs.1,50,000/- per acre for other lands. On a reference made by the land owne