ROY ABRAHAM Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) CLAIMANTS as well as the requisitioning authority, Elanthoor Grama Panchayath, being aggrieved by the award of the Land Reference Court have preferred these appeals. L.A.A.346/09 and L.A.A.793/09 are the appeals preferred by the requisitioning authority, Panchayat. L.A.A.406/09 and L.A.A.407/09 are the appeals preferred by the claimants. The acquired properties were in Elanthoor village of Pathanamthitta District. The acquisition was pursuant to S.4(1) notification published on 3.11.2004 and was for the purpose of constructing a stadium, shopping complex and car parking area for the Panchayat. Acquisitions were for both wet and reclaimed lands. For the wet lands the Land Acquisition Officer awarded land value at the rate of Rs.24,571/- per Are. For the reclaimed lands he awarded land value at the rate of Rs.30,714/- per Are. It was relying upon Ext.B5 document executed in favour of the Supreme head of Malankara Orthodox Church that the Land Acquisition Officer fixed the land value as mentioned above.

(2.) BEFORE the Reference Court the claimants mainly relied upon Exts.A2, A4 and A5 documents and also on the Commissioner's reports (Ext.C1 series). On going through the impugned judgment we find that the Court below has not placed any reliance on Exts.A2, A4 and A5. At the same time relying upon to a certain extent on the Commissioner's report the Court below took the view that the acquired property were superior to Ext.B5 properties. In that view of the matter what the Court below did was to increase the value to a considerable extent. The value of wet lands were fixed at Rs.50,000/- per Are and that of the reclaimed lands were fixed at Rs.74,000/- per Are.

(3.) EXT.A5 is a pre-notification document executed more than three years prior to the relevant S.4(1) notification. EXT.A5 property is in the same village. EXT.A5 property is reclaimed land similar to the reclaimed land involved in these cases. EXT.A5 reflects land value of Rs.40,000/- per cent. EXT.A5 certainly has some probative value in determining the correct market value of the property. At the same time we notice EXT.B5 basis document also. From EXT.B5 document we are convinced that the same is a genuine transaction brought into existence by the parties in the normal course of business. EXT.B5 property is wet land. If the value of reclaimed land is calculated on the basis of EXT.B5 property the same will come to only Rs.15,500/- per cent applying the ratio fixed by the Land Acquisition Officer in his award. The advocate Commissioner's report will show that the properties under acquisition were superior to EXT.B5 properties. We feel that the correct value of the acquired properties should have been in between the value reflected in EXTs.B5 and A5. Considering the superiority enjoyed by the acquired properties we are inclined to find that the correct value of the acquired properties included in the category of reclaimed lands is 2/3rd of the average value reflected in EXTs.B5 and A5.