ANIL KUMAR SHUKLA AND OTHERS Vs. EXECUTIVE ENGINEER, NARMADA DEVELOPMENT DIVISION NO 8, SIHORA, DISTRICT JABALPUR, AND ANOTHER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The following judgment of the Court was delivered by : Ajit Singh, J. This appeal, by the land owners, has been filed against the award dated 9.1.2007 passed by the Reference Court Fourth Additional District Judge, Jabalpur, in Land Acquisition Case No.3/2005.

(2.) The facts in short are these. Notification under section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (in short, "the Act") for acquisition of 10.877 hectares of agricultural land was published in the official gazette dated 5.11.2004. Thereafter, notification under section 6 was published on 7.12.2004. The awards were passed on 2.1.2005 and 8.6.2006. The Land Acquisition Officer had called for the sale deeds from the office of Registrar of Documents. He received as many as 44 sale deeds which were executed within a period of one year from the date of notification published under section 4(1) and were in respect of land situated near the acquired land.

(3.) The appellants, whose land had been acquired, filed references under section 18 of the Act. Before the Reference Court it was proved by them that the land acquired was irrigated and yielded two crops every year. They, however, relying upon the guidelines, Exs.P6 and P10, issued for the purposes of collection of stamp duty by the registering authority, prayed for enhancement of compensation at the rate mentioned therein for irrigated land. According to Ex.P6 for the period between 2004-2005 irrigated land was valued for the purposes of stamp duty at the rate of Rs.4,15,550/- per hectare. Likewise, Ex.P10 reveals that in 2006 similar valuation for the irrigated land was done at the rate of Rs.5,18,500/- per hectare. But the Reference Court, relying upon the decision of the Supreme Court in Krishi Utpadan Mandi Samiti, Sahaswan, District Badaun v. Bipin Kumar, 2004 2 SCC 283, did not agree with the appellants for enhancement of award on the basis of Exs.P6 and P10. The appellants also sought enhancement on the basis of sale deed dated 8.10.2004, Ex.P26, but since the sale deed was in respect of small piece of land (.10 hectare) situated on the main road, the Reference Court held that it cannot form the basis to assess the market value of large area of land acquired.