SPECIAL LAND ACQUISITION OFFICER Vs. ROSHANBHAI CHANDBHAI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) ADMITTED . Mr.G.M.Amin, learned Counsel, waives service of notice on behalf of the claimant/s in each appeal. Having regard to the facts of the case, the appeals are taken up for final disposal today.

(2.) WHAT is challenged in these appeals filed under Section 54 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 ["the Act" for short] read with Section 96 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, is the legality of common award dated October 29, 2005 rendered by the learned 4th Additional Senior Civil Judge, Ahmedabad (Rural) at Navrangpura, in Land Acquisition Cases No. 2656 to 2666 of 1996, by which the claimants have been awarded additional amount of compensation at the rate of Rs.63/ - Ps. per sq.mt. for their acquired lands, over and above the compensation awarded to them at the rate of Rs. 1.50 ps. per sq.mt. for irrigated lands and Rs.1.00 ps. for non -irrigated lands by the Special Land Acquisition Officer vide award dated May 30, 1996.

(3.) THE Executive Engineer, Narmada Project Saurashtra Branch Canal, Div.No.2/4, Bhavnagar proposed to the State Government to acquire agricultural lands of village Dhandhuka, Taluka : Dhandhuka, District : Ahmedabad, for the public purpose of construction of canal under Narmada Project. On perusal of the said proposal, the State Government was satisfied that the lands of village Dhandhuka as specified in the said proposal were likely to be needed for the said public purpose. Therefore, notification under Section 4(1) of the Act was issued, which was published in the Official Gazette on June 4, 1993. Thereafter inquiry was made under Section 5A(2) of the Act and on receipt of the inquiry report from the Special Land Acquisition Officer, the State Government made declaration under Section 6 of the Act, which was published in the Official Gazette on June 1, 1994. The interested persons were thereafter served with notices for determination of compensation payable to them. The claimants appeared before the Special Land Acquisition Officer and claimed compensation at the rate of Rs. 100/ - per sq.mt. However, having regard to the materials placed before him, the Special Land Acquisition Officer by his award dated May 30, 1996 offered compensation to the claimants at the rate of Rs. 1.50 ps. per sq.mt. for irrigated lands and Rs. 1.00 ps. per sq.mt. for non -irrigated lands. The claimants were of the opinion that the offer of compensation made to them by the Special Land Acquisition Officer was totally inadequate. Therefore, they submitted applications under Section 18 of the Act requiring the Special Land Acquisition Officer to refer their cases to the Court for the purpose of determination of just amount of compensation payable to them. Accordingly, references were made to the District Court, Ahmedabad (Rural), where they were registered as Land Acquisition Case Nos. 2656 to 2666 of 1996.