P&H HC Raises Compensation For Kharia-Payga Landowners To ₹18 Lakh Per Acre, Citing Sale Deeds Near Acquisition Date

The State acquired 142.72 acres in the villages of Kharia and Payga, District Mahendragarh, for developing Sectors 9 and 10.

The Section 4 notification was issued on 23 February 2007, followed by a Section 6 notification on 20 February 2008.

The Collector assessed compensation at ₹12,00,000 per acre; the Reference Court dismissed the landowners’ claims for enhancement.

In appeals under Section 54 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, the landowners relied principally on sale deeds P-11, P-12 and P-18 to challenge the assessment.

The appeals were brought under Section 54 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, which provides for appeals from awards in land-acquisition proceedings.

In assessing market value, the Court considered comparable sale transactions, including their timing, area, location and nature of land.

It treated a post-notification sale as relevant where it was close in time to the Section 4 notification and the transaction was otherwise credible, and considered whether adjustments were warranted for differences in location and area.

Section 51A was invoked by counsel in support of the sale deeds, but the judgment did not separately expound its rule.

The Court found that P-11 and P-12 covered a combined area of 112 kanals and 16 marlas, were executed only a few months after the Section 4 notification, and recorded a rate of ₹18,00,000 per acre.

It considered the transactions credible and saw no sufficient reason to disregard them, noting that the land represented was not a small parcel.

Although P-27 concerned a residential plot and could be excluded, the Court held that P-18, a pre-notification sale of agricultural land executed approximately two months before the notification, could not be rejected merely because it abutted the highway.

Even applying a 55% deduction for the location and area differences, the resulting value supported an assessment of ₹18,00,000 per acre.

The landowners were also held entitled to statutory benefits under the 1894 Act; pending applications, if any, were disposed of.