1. By filing these appeals under Section 54 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (“the Act” for short) read with Section 96 of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908, the appellants have challenged the legality of common judgment and award dated 12.10.2009 rendered by the learned Additional Senior Civil Judge, Bharuch in Land Reference Case Nos.2025 to 2034 of 1998, by which the Reference Court has awarded in all compensation to the claimants at the rate of Rs.49.60 paise per sq.mtr. as additional amount of compensation.
2. The land of original claimants situated at Village – Pisad, Taluka Vagra, District – Bharuch was acquired for the purpose of construction of Pisad Minor Canal. Therefore, Notification under Section 4(1) of the Act was issued, which was published in the Official Gazette on 29.11.1995. After considering objections from the claimants, necessary report contemplated under section 5A(2) of the Act was forwarded by the Special Land Acquisition Officer to the State Government and on considering the said report, Government was satisfied that the land of village – Pisad, Taluka – Vagra, District – Bharuch were needed for the public purpose as mentioned above.
3. Therefore, declaration was made under Section 6 of the Act, which were published in the Official Gazette on 08.08.1996.
Thereafter, Land Acquisition Officer offered compensation to the present claimants at the rate of Rs1.60 per sq.mts. Since the said amount of compensation was inadequate, the claimants submitted application under section 18 of the Act requiring the Officer to refer their case to the Court for the purpose of determination of just amount of compensation payable to them and accordingly, reference was made to the Reference Court, Bharuch which was registered as L.R.C. Nos.2025 to 2034 of 1998 and other allied reference cases.
4. Learned advocate for the original claimants has relied on the judgment of this Court in First Appeal No.1942 of 2003 to 1951 of 2003, First Appeal Nos.896 of 2007 to 907 of 2007 wherein, this Court has considered the case of the original claimants of village Saran, Taluka – Vagra, for compensation.
5. It is to be noted that previous award of the reference court relating to the lands of village – Vagra, which was rendered in LR.C.No.1282 to 1291 of 1990, was challenged in First Appeal Nos.1942 to 1951 of 2003 and this Court by judgment dated 19.06.2006 upheld the same. Land of village – Pisad is just adjoining to village – Vagra. This Court has considered the case of the original claimants for compensation for the village Saran, Taluka – Vagra in First Appeal Nos.896 of 2007 to First Appeal No.907 of 2007 and in para – 6 and 7 of the judgment dated 02.04.2007, this Court has observed as under : “6. In Special Land Acquisition, Davangere vs. P.Veerabhadarappa, etc. etc., AIR 1984 SC 774, it is laid down that the function of the Court in awarding compensation under the Act is to ascertain the market value of land at the date of the notification under Section 4(1) and the methods of valuation may be: (1) opinion of experts; (2) the prices paid within a reasonable time in bona fide transaction of purchase or sale of the lands acquired or of the lands adjacent to those acquired and possessing similar advantages; and (3) a number of years' purchase of the actual or immediately prospective profits of the lands acquired. What is emphasised in the said decision is that normally, the method of capitalizing the actual or immediately prospective profits or the rent of a number of years' purchase should not be resorted to if there is evidence of comparable sales or other evidence for computation of the market value. For the guidance of courts in the country, it is laid down that yield method can be resorted to only when no other method is available. Applying the principles laid down in the above quoted decision to the facts of the present case, this Court finds that the Reference Court was not justified in determining the market value of the lands acquired on yield basis more particularly when the evidence in the form of previous award of the Reference Court relating to the lands of Village: Vagra was available on record. The previous award of the Reference Court relating to the lands of Village: Vagra is produced by the claimants at Exhibit 24. It indicates that the lands of Village: Vagra were acquired for public purpose of ONGC Project pursuant to publication of notification issued under Section 4 of the Act in the official gazette on April 28, 1989. Therein, the Special Land Acquisition Officer had awarded compensation to the claimants at the rate of Rs.7/ per square metre. Feeling aggrieved, the claimants had sought references and accordingly, the references were made to the District Court, Bharuch, where they were numbered as L.A.R.Nos.1282 of 1990 to 1291 of 1990. In those cases, witness Musabhai Umarji Patel was examined at Exhibit 96 whereas another witness Hanumanbhai Ishwarbhai Patel was examined at Exhibit 103 and witness Omprakash Dahyabhai Pandya was examined at Exhibit 109. Further, the claimants had also examined Raisang Babubhai Makwana at Exhibit 118 and witness Ramanbhai Pujabhai Vankar was examined at Exhibit 125. On behalf of the Acquiring Authorities, witness Harishchandra Kanaiyalal Shah was examined at Exhibit 131 and witness Parsottambhai Haribhai Chotaliya was examined at Exhibit 135. On appreciation of the evidence adduced by the parties, the Reference Court by judgment and award dated January 10, 2002 awarded additional amount of compensation to the claimants at the rate of Rs.31/ per square metre. Thus, those claimants were awarded compensation at the rate of Rs.38/ per square metre.
7. As observed earlier, it was asserted by witness Ibrahim Bapusaheb that the lands of Village: Vagra and the lands acquired in the instant cases were situated near each other. It was also claimed by him that the lands acquired from Village Vagra were similar in all respects to the lands acquired in the instant case. This assertion was neither challenged by the Acquiring Authorities nor proved to be untrue. Under the circumstances, this Court is of the opinion that the previous award of the Reference Court relating to the lands of Village: Vagra would furnish good guidance for the purpose of determining the market value of the lands acquired in the instant cases from Village: Saran. It is well settled that the previous award of the Reference Court relating to the lands of a village, which has attained finality, can be taken into consideration as a good guidance for the purpose of determining the market value of similar lands acquired subsequently from the adjoining village. The record further shows that the previous award of the Reference Court relating to the lands of Village: Vagra, which was rendered in Land Reference Case Nos.1282 to 1291 of 1990, was subjected to challenge in First Appeal Nos.1942 to 1951 of 2003 and cognate matters and that the High Court by judgment dated June 19, 2006 upheld the same. The fact that the previous award of the Reference Court relating to the lands of Village: Vagra has attained finality cannot be disputed by the learned counsel for the appellant. Therefore, the claimants were justified in placing reliance upon the same for the purpose of claiming enhanced compensation. There is a general consensus between the learned counsels for the parties that on the basis of the previous award relating to the lands of Village: Vagra, as confirmed by the High Court, the claimants would be entitled to compensation, in all, at the rate of Rs.43/ per square metre. Thus, this Court does not find any merits in the appeals and, therefore, the appeals are liable to be dismissed.”
6. Considering above decisions of this Court and it has come on record that distance between the village – Pisad and Village – Vagra is about 2 to 3 kms, it is settled law that previous award of the reference court relating to village, which has attained finality can be considered to be good piece of evidence for the purpose of determining the market value of similar land acquired. Therefore, this Court is of the opinion that no error is committed by the Reference Court in placing reliance on the previous award of the reference court for the purpose of determining the market value of the lands acquired in the instant case. This Court is of the view that the findings recorded by the reference court that the claimants are entitled to enhanced compensation on the basis of previous award of the reference court relating to the lands of adjoining village cannot be interfered with.
7. In view of above, the appeals fail and are dismissed.
There shall be no order as to costs. The Registry is directed to draw decree in terms of this order as early as possible.
[M.D.Shah, J.]
satish