REVENUE DIVISIONAL OFFICER Vs. SENBAGAM AND ORS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Revenue Divisional Officer, who was the Referring Officer before the lower court, is the Appellant herein. The appeal has been filed under Section 54 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, against the award passed by the learned Principal subordinate Judge, Tenkasi in L.A.O.P. No. 75 of 1992 on 30.04.2002.

(2.) An extent of 3.14.0 hectares of land comprised in S. Nos. 196/1, 196/2,196/3,197/1-A,197/2-A in Tenkasi village, Tenkasi Taluk belonging to the Respondents was acquired by the Government for the purpose of construction of a new bus-stand at Tenkasi. The notification under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act for the said purpose was issued on 10.10.1990. After award enquiry, the Revenue Divisional Officer, Tenkasi(Land Acquisition Officer) passed an award in his Award No. 3/1992, dated 17.02.1992 fixing the market value of the acquired land at the rate of Rs. 1,35,850/-per hectare(Rs. 550/-per cent). The Land Acquisition Officer fixed a total sum of Rs. 13,300/-for the trees that stood in the acquired land as on the date of 4(1) notification. The Respondents/claimants, who were not satisfied with the quantum of compensation awarded by the Land Acquisition Officer, received the same under protest and requested the Land Acquisition Officer to make a reference to the court under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 to fix a reasonable compensation for the compulsory acquisition of the said land.

(3.) After the claimants and the Referring Officer filed their claim statements and the written objections respectively, the learned Principal Subordinate Judge, Tenkasi, conducted trial, in which 12 witnesses were examined as C.W.1 to C.W.12 and 8 documents were marked as Ex.C1 to Ex.C8 on the side of the claimants/Respondents herein. On the side of the Appellant herein/Referring Officer, no witness was examined, but, three documents were marked as Ex.R1 to Ex.R3. The learned Principal Subordinate Judge, Tenkasi, at the conclusion of trial, heard the arguments advanced by both parties, considered the evidence adduced by both the sides in the light of the pleadings and the arguments and upon such consideration, fixed the market value of the acquired land as on the date of 4(1) notification at the rate of Rs. 1,700/-per cent. The value of the trees was fixed as follows: <FRM>JUDGEMENT_795_LAWS(MAD)2_2011_1.html</FRM>