LAWS(GJH)-2007-7-45

STATE OF GUJARAT Vs. SITABEN MANIBEN CHANDRASINH

Decided On July 10, 2007
STATE OF GUJARAT Appellant
V/S
SITABEN, MANIBEN CHANDRASINH Respondents

JUDGEMENT

(1.) All 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 August 20,2004, rendered by the learned Joint District Judge, (FTC No. 4), Bharuch in Land Acquisition Reference Nos. 1057 to 1067 of 2002, by which the claimants have been awarded additional amount of compensation at the rate of Rs. 15.20 Ps per sq.mt. for their acquired lands, in addition to compensation offered to them at the rate of Rs. 3/- per sq.mt. by the Special Land Acquisition Officer vide his award dated March 18,1991.

(2.) The Executive Engineer, Karjan Medium Irrigation Scheme, Ankleshwar proposed to the State Government to acquire the lands of village Valia, Taluka and District Bharuch for the public purpose of Karjan Project. On perusal of the same, the State Government was satisfied that the lands mentioned therein 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 July 26,1990. The said notification was followed by a declaration made under Section 6 of the Act, which was published in the Official Gazette on November 22, 1990. The interested persons were thereafter served with notices for determination of compensation payable to them. Accordingly the claimants appeared before the Special Land Acquisition Officer and claimed compensation at the rate of Rs. 50/- per sq.mt. However, having regard to the materials placed before him, the Special Land Acquisition Officer offered compensation to the claimants at the rate of Rs. 3/-per per sq.mt. by his award dated March 18,1991. Feeling dissatisfied, the claimants 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,Bharuch, where they were numbered as noticed earlier.

(3.) On behalf of the claimants, witness Joravarsinh Naharsinh Piludariya was examined at Exh.10. After giving particulars of the lands acquired, the witness mentioned that village Valia was the main Taluka Center, where all basic amenities such as Market Yard, Agricultural Produces Market Committee, Ginning and Processing Society, Telephone Exchange, Scheduled Bank, Co-operative Bank, Dispensary, Petrofills Company, G.I.D.C. etc. were situated. The witness further informed the court that his village Valia was situated on the State Highway and was at a short distance from the lands which were earlier acquired for G.I.D.C. purpose. After stating that each claimant was able to raise crops of cotton, sugarcane, etc. the witness asserted that each claimant was earning net income of Rs. 35,000/- to Rs. 40,000/- per Vigha per year from the sale of agricultural produces. The witness further maintained that village Nana Sorva was situated quite near his village from which also lands similar to the lands acquired in the instant cases were acquired and as the Reference Court had awarded compensation at the rate of Rs. 15.18 ps. per sq.mt. to the claimants, whose lands were acquired from village Nana Sorva, the claimants in the instant case also should be awarded compensation on the basis of the said previous award. The witness produced previous award of the Reference Court relating to the lands of village Nana Sorva at Exh.9. Though this witness was cross-examined by the learned Counsel for the acquiring authorities, nothing substantial could be elicited nor the assertion made by the witness that lands of village Nana Sorva were similar to the lands acquired in the instant cases and furnished good guidance for determining the market value of the lands acquired in the instant cases could be demonstrated to be untrue.