STATE OF GUJARAT Vs. RAMBHABEN JESABHAI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) . First Appeals Nos. 142 to 150 of 1980 under Sec. 54 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 arise from a common judgment and Awards of the learned Joint Judge, Jamnagar, in Land Acquisition Cases Nos. 1 to 10 of 1976 respectively. First Appeal No. 141 of 1980 arises from the same judgment and award of the learned Joint Judge, Jamnagar in Land Acquisition Case No. 7 of 1976 and First Appeal No. 153 of 1980 arises from the same judgment and award of the learned Joint Judge, Jamnagar in Land Acquisition Case No. 1 of 1978.

(2.) . The lands which are involved in these appeals were acquired for providing a Danger Zone Area of the classified range at Jamnagar. Notification under Sec. 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, hereinafter referred to as the 'Act' was issued on 4-7-1969 and it was published in the Government Gazette, Part-I, on 31-7-1969. Notification under Sec. 6 was published on 11-11-1979, and the Deputy Collector, Jamnagar who acted as Land Acquisition Officer, made his award on 12-8-1976. The claimant moved the Collector for making references under Sec. 18 of the Act. These references were ordered to be consolidated and evidence was led in Land Reference Case No. 7 of 1976. It appears from the record that documentary evidence was produced on behalf of the State of Gujarat with the list Exh. 23 and Exh. 15, while the claimants produced certain sale deeds with list Exh. 12 and list Exh. 37. 14 claimants were examined on the same day, i.e., on 19-12-1979 and 2 other claimants were examined on the next day, i.e. 20-12-1978. After the oral evidence was recorded the documents produced by the Government Pleader and the claimants came to be exhibited by consent. These documents were relating to the sales of other agricultural lands of different dates beginning from 28-1-1966 to 23-2-1971. Dt. 15-12-1990 No witnesses were examined to show the relevance of these of these sale instances. The learned Judge digested the details about the area, date of execution and average rate per acre in a Tabular form in respect of the 19 instances. Though the rates varied from Rs. 2,000.00 per acre in February 1967 to Rs. 75,000.00 per acre in February 1971, the learned Judge thought of taking out an average, irrespective of the distance of the sale instances from the acquired lands. No attempt was made by the learned Judge to find out which of the sale instance was comparable either from the point of view of distance or from the point of view of time and situation. Even after taking out the average, the learned Judge almost arbitrarily fixed the market value of the land bearing Survey No. 1287 at Rs. 20,000.00 per hectare, market value of the lands bearing Survey Nos. 1153 and 1212 at Rs. 10,000.00 per hectare, and the market value of the other lands at Rs. 15,000.00 per hectare. The only reason for determining the market value by classifying the lands in the aforesaid three categories was, in his own words, as under :

(3.) . It was, therefore, natural that both the learned In-charge Government Pleader as well as the learned Advocate for the respondents challenged the awards made by the learned Joint Judge, Jamnagar, as illegal, unscientific and oblivious of relevant criteria. So, the entire discussion made by the learned Judge and the exercise of taking out the average undertaken by him, had to be ignored and we had to appreciate the evidence on record afresh, like the trial Court. Needless to say that, it is not necessary to repeat the submissions made on behalf of the appellants and the respondents, which are identical, as stated above. The only additional submission made by the learned Advocate for the respondents who have filed cross-objections is that, compensation should be awarded at Rs. 10,000.00 per acre and according to the learned In-charge Government Pleader, the compensation awarded by the Land Acquisition Officer should not be disturbed.