Andhra Pradesh High Court - Amravati
The Special Deputy Collector vs Dr. C. Anjanappa on 10 March, 2023
THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE M.GANGA RAO
THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE T.MALLIKARJUNA RAO
L.A.A.S.No.1153 of 2011
JUDGMENT: (per Hon'ble Sri Justice M.Ganga Rao)
The Special Deputy Collector (Land Acquisition), HNSS Unit-
IV, Kurnool, Kurnool District preferred this appeal being aggrieved
by the award passed by the Reference Court in L.A.O.P.No.24 of
2007 for the grounds raised in Memorandum of appeal, as being
illegal, arbitrary and contrary to the evidence available on record.
2. The appellant - Land Acquisition Officer/Special Deputy
Collector (Land Acquisition) had acquired the land extent Ac.51.00
in Sy.Nos.223/1 and 224/1 of B.Thandrapadu Village, on
requisition from the Executive Engineer, HNSS Division, Kurnool
for excavation of HNSC Main canal from K.M.28.300 to
K.M.30.900 by invoking urgency clause under Section 17(4) of the
Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short 'the Act') for early handing
over the lands for taking up the work. A draft notification under
Section 4(1) of the Act and a draft declaration under Section 6 of
the Act were given for publishing in A.P. Gazette Part-I
Extraordinary and in newspapers. Since invoking urgency clause,
the enquiry under Section 5-A of the Act has been dispensed with.
2
The Land Acquisition Officer, after survey and enquiry, categorized
the lands as Category-1(a) and Category-1(b), passed the Award
No.30/2006-07 dated 20.11.2006 and fixed the market value @
Rs.65,000/- per acre to Category-1(a) dry lands irrigated with rain
fed water and Rs.75,000/- to Category-1(b) irrigated lands by bore
wells and pipelines. The respondent received the compensation
under protest and sought reference under Section 18 of the Act to
the Civil Court. The Reference Court received the land acquisition
award for adjudication under Section 18 of the Act for
determination of the true market value of the acquired land for
fixing the just compensation. The respondent/claimant filed claim
petition stating that the acquired lands are fertile lands and raised
commercial crops therein. The area where the lands were
acquired was already developed for residential plots and
educational institutions and for other establishments. The earlier
sale transactions are not taken into consideration by the Land
Acquisition Officer and the acquired lands are situated nearby the
Municipal Corporation area and there is a rapid growth in that
area. There are several educational institutions like Kesava Reddy
High School, Safa Engineer College, Pulla Reddy Engineering
College, Dental College, etc. and other resorts are also situated
nearby the lands acquired by the appellant and each acre is worth
about Rs.20 lakhs to Rs.25 lakhs. However, the Land Acquisition
Officer fixed the meager amount and thereby caused irreparable
loss to the claimant.
3. Learned Government Pleader for Land Acquisition would
contend that the Land Acquisition Officer after taking possession
of the acquired lands, surveyed the lands and personally
inspected them along with Special Deputy Tahsildar, Special
Surveyor and Special Revenue Inspector on 08.04.2006. All the
lands are registered as 'dry' as per Re-settlement Register. For
determination of market value, the entire acquired land is
categorized as Category-1(a) - dry lands irrigated with rain fed
water and Category-1(b) - dry lands irrigated by bore wells
through pipe lines. The Land Acquisition Officer considered
nearly 259 sale transactions from Sub-Registrar, Kurnool pertain
to preceding three years from last date of publication of
notification i.e., from 27.05.2003 to 27.05.2006 and finally fixed
the market value at Rs.65,000/- per acre for dry lands in
Category-1(a) and Rs.75,000/- per acre for dry lands in Category-
1(b) and also passed award on 20.11.2006 in Award No.30/2006-
2007, granting 30% solatium, additional market value, etc. The
award passed by the Land Acquisition Officer reflects the details of
the land and enquiry conducted by him while fixing the
compensation by taking into consideration the parameters fixed
under the provisions of Section 23 of the Act. The Reference
Court grossly erred in enhancing the compensation from
Rs.65,000/- per acre to Rs.1,50,000/- per acre.
4. Sri K.Rathangapani Reddy, learned counsel appearing for
the respondent-claimant, would contend that the acquired lands
are situated near Kurnool Municipal Corporation and the lands
are having potential for rapid growth as there are several
educational institutions like Kesava Reddy High School, Safa
Engineer College, Pulla Reddy Engineering College, Dental College,
etc. and other resorts are also situated in that area and each acre
is worth about Rs.25 lakhs to Rs.30 lakhs. The Land Acquisition
Officer, while discarding the sale transactions and the evidence
placed before him, granted meager compensation of Rs.65,000/-
per acre to dry land and Rs.75,000/- to irrigated lands through
bore wells. The Reference Court rightly enhanced the
compensation by taking into consideration the oral and
documentary evidence and on elaborate discussion and also by
considering the sale item No.168 - dry land in Sy.No.266/1A vide
sale document No.6855 dated 12.05.2022 for an amount of
Rs.79,054/- per acre which is the highest single sale, which does
not warrant any interference of this Court.
5. This Court, having considered the facts and circumstances
of the case, submissions of the learned counsel and on perusal of
the record, found that the Reference Court having considered the
nature of lands categorized into two categories as Category-1 and
Category-2 and fixed the market value of the lands. The lands
were acquired for excavation of HNSS Main canal from K.M.28.300
to K.M.30.900 for an extent of Ac.51.00 in Sy.Nos.223/1 and
224/1 of B.Thandrapadu Village. The Land Acquisition Officer
has to fix the compensation to the acquired lands as per the
provisions of Section 23 of the Act and as per the principles laid
down by this Court as well as the Hon'ble Apex Court.
6. The Land Acquisition Officer having obtained 259 sale
transactions from Sub-Registrar's Office, Kurnool which took
place preceding three years from the date of publication of
notification but almost all the sale transactions were discarded
without assigning any reasons and granted compensation of
Rs.65,000/- per acre for dry lands irrigated with rain fed water
and Rs.75,000/- per acre for dry lands irrigated by bore wells
through pipe lines. The sale deed pertains to Sy.No.15 in S.No.5
of B.Thandrapadu Village shows that the rate of Ac.1.00 is
Rs.2,90,523/-; in S.No.25 the value is Rs.2,90,523/-; in S.No.60
the rate per acre is Rs.2,91,000/-; under S.No.84 the rate per acre
is Rs.3,39,250/-; under S.No.100 the rate per acre is Rs.18 lakh;
under S.No.124 the rate per acre is Rs.3,70,000/-; in S.No.171
the rate per acre is Rs.3,40,000/-; in S.No.194 it is Rs.3,39,583/-;
under S.No.213 it is Rs.3,39,582/-; in S.Nos.227, 228 and 249, it
is Rs.8 lakh per acre; and in S.No.258 it is Rs.5,31,429/-. The
value of the land reflects in 25 sale transactions is ranging from
Rs.3 lakh to Rs.18 lakh per acre. In spite of the fact that the
acquired lands are near to said lands, the Land Acquisition Officer
has not taken into consideration the potentiality of the lands for
being used as house sites and erred in fixing the low market
value. There are approved lay out plots ranging between Ac.0.02
cents to Ac.0.08 cents and the claimant along with others
purchased the sites only for construction of houses. The Land
Acquisition Officer fixed the market value treating them as
agricultural lands, is contrary to the evidence available on record.
7. The acquired lands are 100 feet away from N.H.18 main
road. The Land Acquisition Officer has not taken into
consideration the nearby the educational institutions like Pulla
Reddy Engineering College, G.Pulla Reddy Dental College and
other educational institutions situated around the locality. The
construction activities are also going on in that area. The
acquired lands are situated at a distance of 3 Kms. to Kurnool
Municipal area. The market value for the lands acquired for Post
Graduation center is fixed at Rs.2 lakh per acre and for the lands
acquired for A.P. Housing Board in the year 2002, the rate fixed at
Rs.8 lakhs per acre. For the other sale transactions took place by
the date of notification, the market value is fixed at Rs.12 lakhs
per acre. Therefore, all the said sale transactions could not be
discarded for the reason that they are small house plots.
8. The Reference Court, having considered all the evidence
available on record in detail, held that the Land Acquisition Officer
discarded the sale transactions without any valid reason. By
contending that the extent of land for some of the sale
transactions is very small and registration is very high due to
commercial purpose, the Land Acquisition Officer by taking into
consideration the highest single sale i.e, Item No.168 dry land in
Sy.No.266/1A vide Document No.6855 dated 12.05.2002 for an
amount of Rs.79,054/- per acre, fixed the market value at
Rs.65,000/- per acre for category No.1(a), which is found to be
arbitrary and illegal.
9. Admittedly, it is for the claimant to prove his claim by
adducing legally admissible evidence to award just compensation.
The Reference Court found that the claimant having claimed
compensation of Rs.20 lakhs and Rs.25 lakhs, has not produced
any oral or documentary evidence to substantiate his claim by
examining the vendors and vendees of sale transactions. The
Reference Court, having considered the legal evidence available on
record, rightly fixed the value of the acquired dry lands at
Rs.1,50,000/- per acre along with other statutory benefits.
10. In view of the above discussion, this Court came to the
conclusion that there is no reason warranting interference of this
Court with the award passed by the Reference Court.
11. Accordingly, the land acquisition appeal suit is dismissed.
No order as to costs.
12. As a sequel thereto, miscellaneous petitions, if any, pending
in the appeal suit shall also stand dismissed.
___________________
M.GANGA RAO, J
___________________________
T.MALLIKARJUNA RAO, J
Date: 10.03.2023
anr
THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE M.GANGA RAO
THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE T.MALLIKARJUNA RAO
L.A.A.S.No.1153 of 2011
Date: 10.03.2023
anr
