ANILBHAI RASIKLAL SHAH Vs. SPECIAL LAND ACQUISITION OFFICER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BY way of the captioned appeals preferred under Section 54 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 [hereinafter referred to as "the Act"] read with Section 96 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 [hereinafter referred to as "the Code"] the appellants have brought under challenge a common judgment and award dated 31.1.1997 rendered by the learned Assistant Judge, Nadiad in Land Reference Case Nos.106/1987 and other accompanying reference cases. The said land reference cases arose from award dated 22.9.1986 rendered by the Land Acquisition Officer [hereinafter referred to as "LAO"] in respect of the acquired lands situate in Mahemdabad town.

(2.) BY the impugned award dated 31.1.1997, the Reference Court has granted additional compensation, by adopting belting method, as done by LAO, making division of the lands into 4 different categories viz. Block -A, Block -B, Block -C and Block -D, at the rate of Rs. 9396 per Bigha (Rs. 4.00 per sq. mt.) for Block -A, Rs. 8809 per Bigha (Rs. 3.75 per sq. mt.) in respect of Block -B whereas for Block -C and Block -D additional compensation at the rate of Rs. 8221 per Bigha (Rs. 3.50 per sq. mt.) and Rs. 7634 per Bigha (Rs. 3.25 per sq. mt.) respectively, is determined. The appellants, feeling dissatisfied and upon being aggrieved by the rate for additional compensation in the impugned award, have preferred present appeals. The appellants are the original claimants/land owners, who demanded compensation at the rate of Rs. 40 per sq. mt.

(3.) THE appellants were dissatisfied with the award and therefore they demanded that reference be made to the Court under Section 18 of the Act. Hence, the competent authority made reference which culminated into Land Reference Case Nos.106/1987 and allied cases. Before the Reference Court, the appellants -claimants demanded additional compensation at the rate of Rs. 40 per sq mt. As mentioned earlier, the Reference Court, after taking into account the evidence obtaining on the record, granted additional compensation at the rate of Rs. 4.00 per sq. mt., Rs. 3.75 per sq. mt., Rs. 3.50 per sq. mt. and Rs. 3.25 per sq. mt. for Block -A, B, C and D respectively. The appellants were not satisfied with the award of the Reference Court. Hence, appeals being First Appeal No.840/1998 and other cognate appeals were filed in this Court. By judgment dated 15.3.1999, this Court partly allowed the appeals and enhanced the rate of compensation to Rs. 15 per sq. mt. for agricultural lands and Rs. 19 per sq. mt. for non - agricultural lands. This Court also considered it proper to do away with the belting system adopted by the Reference Court. For the Kharaba land, the Court granted compensation at the rate of Rs. 5.00 per sq. mt and the deduction at the rate of 5% towards government share, as granted by the Reference Court, was set aside by this Court. The opponent/acquiring body felt aggrieved by the said judgment of this Court and carried the matter before the Hon'ble Supreme Court by way of S.L.P.Nos.6716/2002 to 6753/2002. The Apex Court, by order dated 10.10.2002 allowed the S.L.Ps. and remanded the matters to this Court.