SPECIAL LAND ACQUISITION OFFICER Vs. JIVABHAI SONDABHAI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) 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 are directed against the common judgment and award dated October 20,2004 rendered by the learned Civil Judge(S.D.), Surendranagar in Land Reference Case Nos. 364/97 to 369/97 by which the claimants are awarded additional amount of compensation at the rate of Rs. 15.02 paise per Sq.Mtr. for irrigated lands and Rs. 5.35 paise per Sq.Mtr. for non -irrigated lands, over and above the compensation awarded to them by the Special Land Acquisition Officer at the rate of Rs.0.97 paise per Sq.Mtr. for irrigated lands and Rs.0.65 paise per Sq.Mtr. for non -irrigated lands by his award dated November 3,1995.

(2.) THE Executive Engineer, Narmada Project, Unit No.11, Saurashtra Branch, Surendranagar proposed to the State Government to acquire lands of Village Vithalgadh, Taluka Lakhtar, District - Surendranagar for the public purpose of construction of Lakhtar Branch Canal under the Narmada Project. On scrutiny of the said proposal, the State Government was satisfied that the lands of Village Vithalgadh mentioned in the said proposal were likely to be needed for the said public purpose. Therefore, a Notification under Section 4(1) of the Act was issued which was published in the Official Gazette on September 3,1992. The land owners were thereafter served with the notices under Section 4 of the Act. On receipt of the notices, they opposed the proposed acquisition. After considering their objections, a report as contemplated by Section 5A(2) of the Act was forwarded by the Special Land Acquisition Officer to the State Government. On perusal of the said report, the State Government was satisfied that the lands of Village Vithalgadh which were specified in the Notification published under Section 4(1) of the Act were needed for the public purpose of construction of the Lakhtar Branch Canal under the Narmada Project. Therefore, a declaration under Section 6 of the Act was made which was published in the Official Gazette on October 12,1993. The interested persons were thereafter served with the notices for determination of the compensation payable to them. The claimants appeared before the Special Land Acquisition Officer and claimed compensation at the rate of Rs. 75/ - per Sq.Mtr. However, having regard to the materials placed before him, the Special Land Acquisition Officer by his award dated November 3,1995 offered compensation to the claimants at the rate of Rs.0.97 paise per Sq.Mtr. for irrigated lands and Rs. 0.65 paise per Sq.Mtr. for non -irrigated lands. The claimants were of the opinion that the offer of compensation made 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, Surendranagar, where they were registered as Land Reference Case Nos. 364/97 to 369/97.

(3.) ON behalf of the claimants witness Jivabhai Sondabhai was examined at Exh.25. He claimed before the Reference Court that his village Vithalgadh was fairly developed though the main occupation of the residents of the village was agriculture. According to the witness, the lands acquired were situated on Surendrangar -Ahmedabad State Highway and that Chhabli Railway Station was situated at a distance of 2 Kms. from the acquired lands. The witness maintained before the Court that each claimant was able to raise crops of millet and cotton during rainy season whereas in summer each claimant was able to raise crop of Juvar, millet and cumin seeds. The witness mentioned that the quantity of cumin seeds grown was about 10 to 12 Maunds per Vigha per year whereas quantity of cotton grown was 25 to 30 Maunds per Vigha per year. According to this witness, each claimant was selling his agricultural produces in the market. The witness asserted that the price of cumin seeds was between Rs.1000/ to Rs.2000/ - per 20 Kgs. whereas that of cotton was Rs.400/ - to Rs.500/ - per 20 Kgs. The witness asserted that after deducting the cost of cultivation, each claimant was earning net income of Rs.30,000/ - to Rs.35,000/ - per year per Vigha from the sale of different agricultural produces.