Appellant challenged award rejecting claim for enhancement of compensation for structures on acquired land. Court applied thumb rule from precedent, enhancing compensation for superstructures by 25% over Collector's assessment. Appeal partly allowed.
Enhancement of compensation for superstructures by 25% over the value assessed by the Collector.
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RFA-2372-2002 (O&M) [1]
**IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH *******
RFA No. 2372-2002 (O&M) Date of Decision: 18.05.2026
Anirudh Singh
…….Appellant
Versus
State of Punjab and ors. ..….Respondents
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HARKESH MANUJA
Present: Mr. R.S. Manhas, Advocat e for the appellant.
Mr. Gunjan Mehta, Addl.A. G ., Punjab.
HARKESH MANUJA, J. (ORAL)
By way of present appea l , challenge has been laid to an award 1 9 .03.2002 passed by the C o urt of Additional District Judge, Gurdaspur. (hereinafter referred to as 'the Reference Court'). 2. Briefly stating, the land o w ned by the appellant, situated in Villag e Darkua Bangla, Tehsil Dha r Kalan, District Gurdaspur, w as acquired vide notifications dated 07. 0 8.1995 and 27.08.1996 iss u ed under S e ction 4 and 6 of the Land A c quisition Act, 1894, respecti v ely (hereina f ter referred to as 'the Act'). Award under Section 11 of the Act was passed by the Land Acquisition Collector (for short 'the A ct') on 25.0 8 .1998. The public purpose o f acquisition was for construc t ion of Rese r voir area of Ranjit Sagar Dam Project , of Shahpurkandi townshi p .
SANJAY GUPTA 2026.05.20 18:40 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document
RFA-2372-2002 (O&M) [2]
acquisiti o n. Vide award dated 19. 0 3.2002, the Reference C o urt rejected the claim made by the appell a nt. 4. Impugning the aforementi o ned award, learned counsel for the app e llant submits that appellant w as not able to lead his evide n ce as he w a s under the impression that h is case had been tagged al o ng with oth e r connected matters and th e evidence was being led in o ne of those connected cases and thus, the error committed on his p art was bon a fide .
SANJAY GUPTA 2026.05.20 18:40 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document
RFA-2372-2002 (O&M) [3]
acquired land. L i kewise, the assessment of compensation for s uperstructure by the State is generally conserva ti ve, and is not reflective of its true value or wort h . For, the exact value of the structure can never be determined w ith mathematical prec i sion, therefore, this court in various decisions h a s been awarding 25% incre a se on the value of the superstructure assessed by the Collector as a thu m b rule. As a result, appel l ant Darshana Devi sh a ll be entitled to 25% incre a se upon the compensa t ion i.e. 42,977/- awarded to h er by the Collector in t h is regard."
18.05.2026 (HARKESH MANUJA) sanjay JUDGE
Whether speaking/reason e d? Yes/No Whether Reportable? Yes/No
SANJAY GUPTA 2026.05.20 18:40 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document
1 issue framed by the court
Whether the appellant is entitled to enhancement of compensation for superstructures over the acquired land?
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
Darshana Devi versus State of Haryana and othersRelied on¶26
RFA No.1718 of 2002
2 provisions across 1 enactments
Anirudh Singh
State of Punjab
Harkesh Manuja
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
