ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BY way of filing this appeal under Section 54 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1896 read with Section 96 of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908 the State of Gujarat is challenging the common judgment and award passed by the learned Joint District Judge, Rajkot, dated 17.4.1993 in Land Reference Cases Nos.96 of 1981 and 97 of 1981. Both the above two Land Reference Cases have been directed against the award dated 18.8.1981 passed by the Special Land Acquisition Officer in Land Acquisition Case No.5 of 1973, by which the Land Acquisition Officer determined the market value of the land at the rate of Rs.200/- per sq.mtr. and also awarded Rs.12,915/- for the super structure which was demolished because of the acquisition.

(2.) THE brief facts of the present case are that the Rajkot Municipal Corporation proposed to widen the Dhebar road situated in Ward No.2 in the Rajkot City and for that purpose, the land situated in Ward No.2 in the Rajkot City, owned by the Roman Catholic Church, under Reverend Father, James Travesa, was notified for acquisition and for the said purpose, the Municipal Corporation published notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1896 (for short, 'the Act') in the Gujarat Government Gazette dated 17.10.1974. THE land under acquisition is situated on the western side of Dhebar Road on the junction of Kothi Road and Mochi Bazar Road, which is in the form of strip having minimum width of about 6 mtrs. and it starts from the junction and ends on Vonkla in the south. THE land under acquisition is admeasuring 583.80 sq.mtrs. as can be seen from the notification under Section 6 of the Act. It further appears that out of this land, the land admeasuring 80.48 sq.mtrs. is built up area while the remaining portion admeasuring 503.32 sq.mtrs. is open area. It further appears that the built up portion consists of two storey structure, the ground floor of which is used by tenant for commercial purpose like hotel, pan shop, and tyre selling shop and the first floor is used by the Church and the land is fenced by cactus hedge on south and a compound wall on eastern side abutting on Dhebar Road. THE Special Land Acquisition Officer determined the market value of the open land at the rate of Rs.200/- per sq.mtr. and awarded Rs.12,914/- for the super structure.

(3.) IN Land Reference Case No.97 of 1981, the learned Judge directed the original opponents to pay additional amount of compensation of Rs.45,900/- with running interest at the rate of 9% per annum for the first year from the date of possession and at the rate of 15% for the subsequent years till the date of realisation.