PIDUGU KONDALA RAYUDU Vs. SPECIAL DEPUTY COLLECTOR, LAND ACQUISITION, TELLUGU,GANGA PROJECT, UNIT-I,KADAPA.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) These appeals arise out of the common judgment dated 25th Sept., 2014 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad for the States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh reversing the judgment passed by the Reference Court and thereby reducing the compensation fixed for pomegranate trees planted in the acquired land from Rs.4,000.00 to Rs.2,000.00 per tree.

(3.) The facts are not in dispute. The Government of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh acquired an extent of 8.86 acres located in Bedusupalli Village of Atlur Mandal of Kadapa District belonging to the appellant-claimant for the purpose of Somashila Project submergence. Acquired land to the total extent of 8.86 acres were located in three survey numbers, namely Survey No.509/2A, Survey No.510 and Survey No.511/1. By an Award dated 8th March, 1999 the Land Acquisition Officer awarded Rs.34,000.00 per acre for the entire extent of 8.86 acres of land. The Land Acquisition Officer has not awarded any amount towards 479 pomegranate trees in Survey Nos. 510 and 511/1. The Reference Court fixed the market value for the acquired land measuring 4.27 acres in Survey No.509/2A and awarded Rs.68,000.00 per acre. Insofar as pomegranate trees numbering 343 located in Survey No.510 and 136 trees in Survey No.511 standing in 1.59 acres and 3.00 acres respectively are concerned, the Reference Court awarded an amount of Rs.4,000.00 per tree. For arriving at the said conclusion, the Reference Court placed reliance upon the evidence of RW-2-Shri K. Venkat Reddy, a retired Assistant Director in Horticulture and Research Officer in Regional-II Section, Fruit Research Station and also the evidence of RW-4 who was running a fruit mandi business at Tirupati. No separate compensation was awarded for the lands in Survey Nos. 510 and 511/1.