S SRINIVASULU ADVOCATE CLAIMANT Vs. LAND ACQUISITION OFFICER SPECIAL DEPUTY COLLECTOR ANANTAPUR REFERRING OFFICER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) All these appeals arise out of O. P. Nos. 29 to 32 of 1956 on the file of the Subordinate Judge of Anantapur. An extent of 206 acres and 41 cents belonging to 41 persons was acquired by the State of Madras (now Andhra Pradesh) for constructing the Engineering College at Anantapur. The claimants in O. P. Nos. 29 to 32 of 1956 not being satisfied with the award ma3e by the Special Deputy Collector, Land Acquisition, Anantapur applied for a reference under Section 18 Land Acquisition Act claiming enhanced compensation. The Special Deputy Collector awarded compensation at the rate of Rs. 300,- per acre. The Subordinate Judge in-creased the compensation at Rs. 900.00 per acre. Appeals Nos. 344 to 347 of 1957 were filed by the Land Acquisition Officer on the ground that the compensation ought not to have been enhanced. The claimants in O. P. Nos. 29. 30 and 32 of-1956 have preferred memoranda of cross-objections claiming compensation at the rate of Rs. 2,000.00pcr acre. So far as the claimant in O. P. No. 31 of 1956 is concerned, he has filed Appeal No. 291 of 1957 claiming compensation at the rate of Rs. 2,000.00 per acre.

(2.) The questions that fall to be decided in the appeals are: (1) What is the market value of the acquired lands as on the date of the notification under Section 4(1), Land Acquisition Act, i.e. 5-9-1950? (2) What is the actual extent of the land belonging to the claimant in O. P. No. 29 of 1956? and (3) Whether the claimants are not entitled to interest under Section 28, Land Acquisition Act on the enhanced compensation?

(3.) O. P. No. 29 of 1956 relates to a portion of the land in survey No. 418. According to the claimant, an extent of 6 acres and 47 cents belonging to him was acquired by the Government. The Land Acquisition Officer awarded compensation to him at the rate of Rs. 300.00 per acre for 4.44 acres. O. P. No. 30 of 1956 relates to survey No. 414/1 of an extent of 2.23 acres; O. P. No. 31 of 1956 relates to survey No. 417 of an extent of 2.21 acres; and O. P. No. 32 of 1956 relates to survey No. 414/1 of an extent of 2.23 acres. In their applications for reference under Section 18. Land Acquisition Act, the claimants in O. P. Nos. 29 to 32 of 1956 claimed at the rates of Rs. 3.000.00, Rs. 3,500.00, Rs. 5,000.00 and Rs. 3,500.00 respectively. The Land Acquisition Officer awarded compensation at the rate of Rs. 300.00 per acre on the strength of a sale deed dated 20-9-1946 in favour of B. Ranga-nadham, M. Malli Reddi and M. Narayana Rao. That sale deed related to survey No. 414/1. An extent of 6.68 acres was purchased for Rs. 2.000.00. The Land Acquisition Officer has not given any cogent reasons for relying upon the sale deed of September, 1946 for the purpose of fixing the market value as on 5-9-1950. He proceeded under the impression that as it was generally known for a few years before the actual acquisition for the Engineering College that it was going to be acquired, the land values in the vicinity had gone up. The Subordinate Judge awarded compensation on the strength of Ex. B-6 dated 4-11-1947 executed by Chinnaiah Naidu in favour of S. Srinivasulu in respect of survey No. 417 of an extent of 2.21 acres for Rs. 2,000.00. Though several other sale deeds ranging from 1947 to 1950 were filed, the learned Subordinate Judge gave no reasons whatsoever for not acting upon those sale deeds. Sri R. Ramalinga Reddy and Sri T. Ball Reddi relied upon the oral evidence of R. W. 1 supported by the sale deeds Exs. B-2 to B-5. Exhibits B-2 and B-5 are two sale deeds in respect of portions of survey No. 412. Under Ex. B-2 dated 11-6-1948, Gandlapenta Yerikalappa and others sold to Vennapoosa Balappa, who was examined as R. W. 1, 50 cents of land in survey No. 412/2 for a sum of Rs. 1,000/. The value of an acre, according to that document, comes to Rs. 2.000.00. Exhibit B-5 is dated 4-2-1950. It was executed by Gandlapenta Yerikalappa in favour of K. Ramappa. The extent sold is 20 cents and the consideration paid is Rs. 900.00. The rate works out at Rs. 4.500.00. Survey No. 412 is separated from survey No. 414 only by survey No. 411. They are in close proximity to survey Nos. 417 and 418 which have been acquired and which form the subject-matter of all the appeals. Exhibit B-4 is dated 5-5-1949 and the land covered by the sale deed was sold by Kamalakar to Khajabi. The extent sold is 10 cents and the consideration paid is Rs. 300.00. Survey No. 419 is adjacent to survey No. 418 which is next to survey No. 417. Exhibit B-3 dated 21-5-1947 was a sale by H. Ramachandra Rao in favour of P. Aswarthu. The land sold is of an extent of 20 cents in survey No. 308. The sale consideration was Rs. 600.00. The rate works-out at Rs. 3,000.00. Survey No. 308 is on the other side of the road, a few survey numbers away from survey No. 418. R. W. I proved the several sale deeds referred to supra. Nothing was elicited in his cross-examination to show that the sales were bogus sales or that the consideration referred to therein was not paid. Sri Venkataramana, the learned advocate for the State Government con-tended that no reliance ought to be placed upon Exs. B-3 to B-5 on the ground that neither the Vendors nor the vendees had been examined. We are not inclined to accept this contention. The Land Acquisition Officer proceeded on the footing that all the lands acquired are dry lands and that there is no distinction in quality between those lands and the other lands covered by the sale deeds.