Punjab & Haryana High Court Condones 3952-Day Delay in Land Acquisition Appeal to Ensure Parity in Compensation Among Landowners

Case Name: Rajesh (Through LRs) v. State of Haryana and Others

Date of Judgment: 13 March 2026

Citation: RFA-364-2025

Bench: Justice Deepak Gupta

Held: The Punjab and Haryana High Court held that delay in filing an appeal in land acquisition matters can be condoned where refusal would result in unequal treatment of similarly situated landowners. The Court condoned a delay of 3952 days in filing the appeal but directed that the appellant would not be entitled to interest on the enhanced compensation for the delayed period.

Summary: The appeal arose out of the award dated 31.03.2012 passed by the Reference Court, Sonipat, concerning land acquired in village Asawarpur, District Sonipat. The acquisition had been initiated through notifications issued under Sections 4 and 6 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 for development and utilization of land as commercial, institutional and residential sectors in Sonipat. The Land Acquisition Collector had initially awarded compensation at the rate of ₹12,50,000 per acre for all categories of land.

Dissatisfied with the amount awarded by the Collector, various landowners sought references under Section 18 of the Act. The Reference Court decided the matters in a bunch of cases and enhanced the market value of the acquired land to ₹32,00,000 per acre along with statutory benefits.

The present appeal was filed with a delay of 3952 days. The appellant explained that after the Reference Court’s award, he along with his brother had challenged the acquisition proceedings by filing a writ petition before the High Court. The writ petition was initially allowed but the matter later underwent proceedings before the Supreme Court and was remitted back to the High Court. Ultimately, the writ petition came to be dismissed in July 2024. During this period, the appellant passed away and his legal heirs were unaware that the award of the Reference Court had not been challenged. Upon discovering the situation while examining the case papers, they engaged counsel and filed the present appeal.

The appellant further contended that other landowners whose lands were acquired under the same notifications had already obtained enhanced compensation through earlier litigation. In particular, a coordinate bench of the High Court had passed a common judgment on 05.07.2019 in HSIDC v. Rajesh Kumar-II and others enhancing the compensation for lands forming part of the same acquisition. The State fairly conceded that the appellant’s land was part of the same acquisition proceedings and was covered by the said judgment.

While considering the request for condonation of delay, the Court referred to several decisions of the Supreme Court emphasising a liberal and justice-oriented approach in land acquisition cases. The Court observed that landowners should not be deprived of lawful compensation merely due to technical delays, particularly where similarly placed landowners have already received enhanced compensation pursuant to final judgments.

The Court further observed that denying the benefit of enhanced compensation to the appellant would create an anomalous situation where landowners whose lands were acquired under the same notifications and governed by the same award would receive different compensation. Such disparity would violate the principles of equality and fairness underlying land acquisition jurisprudence.

However, to balance equities and prevent undue advantage from the delay, the Court considered it appropriate to deny interest on the enhanced compensation for the delayed period.

Decision: The High Court condoned the delay of 3952 days in filing the appeal subject to the condition that the appellant would not be entitled to interest on the enhanced compensation for the delayed period. The Court further held that the appellant was entitled to enhanced compensation in terms of the judgment dated 05.07.2019 in HSIDC v. Rajesh Kumar-II and others along with all statutory benefits under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, except interest for the delayed period.