CHANDIGARH: Settling a 64-year-old dispute that includes a 20-year legal battle over a piece of land in a Hisar village being used by a power discom, Punjab and Haryana HC has directed the authorities to pay land usage charges since 1961 and compensate the owners upon acquiring the land.
HC ruled that compensation should be granted to the landowners based on the prevalent rates of land in 2005, when they filed the suit for possession of the land. The power discom, Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited (DHBVN), had pleaded for compensation to be given at 1961 rates.
HC observed in its order which was released on Tuesday: “Granting compensation to the appellants-plaintiffs at the market rate prevalent in 1961 would be a travesty of justice. For 44 years, not only were the plaintiffs deprived of their right to use the land, but they were also deprived of monetary compensation. If they were granted compensation in 1961, they might have purchased some other land. The same also would have grown exponentially with other land in the country.”
Justice Pankaj Jain passed these orders while hearing a petition filed by Arjun Lal and others, residents of Barwala in Hisar district in Haryana, who are owners of 8 kanal 8 marla land and have been fighting to reclaim their land. Their grievance is against the state usurping their land and setting up a powerhouse on it without acquiring it. They sought directions to get their land back. However, in its Dec 2011 orders, the lower court in Hisar refused to grant them possession of the land but asked them to accept compensation for the land.
The bench held that since 1961, DHBVN had been using the land owned by plaintiffs without acquisition and without payment of compensation. Accordingly, appellants will have to pay user charges at the rate of Rs 1,000 per year starting 1961, with 10% enhancement every 10 years till the date of acquisition (Feb 2005) and interest at 6% per annum. Interest shall be paid until 2005 when the land is deemed to be acquired. High court has directed the Hisar commissioner to complete the acquisition process and to pronounce the award of the land within three months.