Ambala, May 04 In a historic judgment delivered by a Fast Track court here on Saturday, the proprietary rights were restored to the owners of around 10,000 acres of land of the Ambala Cantonment. Judge A K Shourie restored land to the owners that had been rented by the English in 1843 from the villages of Babyal, Chhabiana, Kardhan and Nangal when the military cantonment was established at Ambala. The English had reached an agreement with the previous generation of these village-dwellers for using around 10,000 acres of land on rent at the rate of 9 pie per bigha. The owners had been receiving rent for the land- at present under the defence department- at same old rates from the Indian government till 1993, when they filed a case in the lower court for their restoring proprietary rights over the land. The rent was then stopped by the defence authorities. The petitioners however, lost the case in the lower court, after which they moved to the Fast Track court in March 24 this year. In its decision that was delivered on Saturday, the court pronounced that the defence ministry should give the appellants their ownership rights over the land. However, in view of the security reasons, the land would not be vacated and would remain under occupation of the defence department. The judgment said that the petitioners were entitled to receive compensation since the land had not been acquired by the English, but only rented when the Cantonment was set up at Ambala. Many of the landowners were even opposed to the possession by the English and had to suffer their wrath for it. The judgment further directed that the case would be referred to the Secretary Defence department for deciding the quantum of compensation within a period of 18 months. The counsel of the applicants Manoj Sobti said that the judgment delivered by the Fast Track court, running into 20 pages, declared the villagers as the proprietors of the cantonment land area measuring about 10,000 acres from where the Army and Air Force units were functioning at present.