Nawab Singh, J.
1 This judgment would dispose of above mentioned seven appeals filed by land owners as the same arise out of a common acquisition.
2 These appeals are directed against the judgments/Awards dated June 7th, 1993 and April 11th, 2008 passed by the Additional District Judge/Court of Reference, Ropar (Here in after referred to as "the Court of Reference")
3 Pursuant to the notification dated September 16th, 1988 under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short ''the Act''), the Punjab Government acquired 12.51 acres of land situated in village Khunni Majra Tehsil Kharar, District Ropar for construction of Kharar Distributories under the SYL Canal Project, Punjab. The Land Acquisition Collector (for short ''the Collector'') by Award dated February 24th, 1999 determined the compensation at the rate of Rs. 60,000/ per acre for chahi lands and Rs. 45,000/ per acre for Barani lands and Rs. 36,000/ for Gair Mumkin lands. Dissatisfied therewith, land owners filed references under Section 18 of the Act. By impugned judgments/Awards dated June 7th, 1993 and April 11th, 2008, the Court of Reference assessed the market value of the acquired land at the rate of Rs. 1 lac per acre for chahi and Rs. 80,000/ for the Baraini land.
4 Counsel on either side heard.
5 The acquired land is situated in village Khunni Majra which is in the close vicinity of Kharar town on KhararBanur Amblaa road. It is at a distance of about 18 Kms from Chandigarh. Kharar is an old Tehsil of District Ropar. It has Judicial Court complex, office of SubDivisional Magistrate, office of the Sub Divisional Public Health Department, Electricity Board as has been depicted in the filed map (Exhibit R2) filed by the State Government Respondent.
6 It has been contended that the land of village Sotal District Ropar which is about 12 KMs ahead of Kharar was also acquired by the Punjab Government for the construction of SYL Canal vide notification dated September 18th, 1985 and this Court in Gurdev Singh v. State of Punjab, (RFA No. 2267 of 1990 decided on November 26th, 2008) determined the market value at the rate of Rs. 2 lacs per acre for the chahi and Rs. 1,60,000/ for Baraini and Rs. 1,20,000/ for Gair Mumkin lands so, the same value be determined for the land involved in these appeals also.
7 It has also been urged that vide notification dated November 26th, 1982/November 27th, 1982 and December 7th, 1982 under section 4 and 6 of the Act, the land of village Thali District Ropar situated on RoparNalagarh road at a distance of about 50 Kms from Chandigarh was acquired for the construction of SYL Canal by the State Government and the Collector in his Award dated March 27th, 1984 determined the market value at the rate of Rs. 2,05,000/ for chahi, Rs. 1,16,000/ for Barani and Rs. 30,000/ for Gair Mumkin lands. The market value assessed by the Collector for the chahi land, that is, Rs. 2,05,000/ was upheld by a Division Bench of this Court in Hari Singh v. The Land Acquisition Collector, 2008(2) RCR (Civil) 352 and enhanced the market value of the acquired land to Rs. 1,64,000/ per acre for Barani land. The land in question is much better situated than village Thali.
8 During the course of hearing, learned State counsel has placed on record sketch map (Annexure P1) depicting the location of the land and a chart (Annexure P2) prepared by Sh. Sher Singh Mann, Junior Engineer, Investigation Circle, Irrigation Development, Punjab, Chandigarh showing the distances between Chandigarh, Khunni Majra, Thali, Sotal and Kharar as described in the aforesaid paragraphs.
9 From the above, it emerges that Sotal village is at a distance of 12 Kms from Kharar town whereas Khunni Majra village is in the vicinity of Kharar, that is, only 3 Kms from Kharar. It is only 18 Kms from Chandigarh whereas Sotal is at a distance of 27 Kms from Chandigarh. The land abuts KhararBanurAmbala road which suggests that the acquired land is much better situated than village Sotal and it had great potential as commercial and building site. In this view of the matter, it would be in the fitness of things to determine the market value of the acquired land of village Khunni Majra at least at the same rate as that of village Sotal as prayed for by the counsel for the appellants.
10 Thus, the market value of the acquired land is determined at the rate of Rs. 2 lacs per acre for chahi, Rs. 1,60,000/ for Baraini and Rs. 1,20,000/ for Gair Mumkin lands. Besides this, the land owners will also be entitled to the statutory sum in accordance with Section 23(1A) of the Act and 30% more sum in consideration of the compulsory nature of the acquisition as provided under Section 23(2) of the Act. They will also be entitled to interest as provided under Section 28 of the Act. The appeals are accordingly, accepted in the manner indicated above.
