Pralhad Venkatrao Hivrale And ... vs The State Of Maharashtra And ...
2017 Latest Caselaw 975 Bom

                                   1                      FA 484.1994.odt

      IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
                 BENCH AT AURANGABAD

                      FIRST APPEAL NO. 484 OF 1994

     1.      Pralhad Venkatrao Hivrale,
             age 32 yrs, Occ. Agri,
             R/o Methi, Tq. Mukhed,
             Dist. Nanded.

     2.      Madhav Maroti,
             age 30 yrs, Occ. Agri,
             R/o Pala, Tq. Mukhed,
             Dist. Nanded.

     3.      Raghunath Maroti,
             age 15 yrs, Occ. Agri,
             R/o Pala, Tq. Mukhed.                ..Claimants...

             VERSUS

     1.      State of Maharashtra
             Through the Collector,
             Nanded.

     2.      The Special Land Acquisition Officer,
             PT and MIW, Nanded.              ..Respondents..

                              ...
       Advocate for Appellants : Mr M.D. Narwadkar h/f 
                       M.V.Deshpande
            AGP for Respondents: Mr S S Dande 
                              ...
                  CORAM : V.K. JADHAV, J.

Dated: March 23, 2017 ...

ORAL JUDGMENT :-

1. Being aggrieved by the judgment and award

passed by the Civil Judge Senior Division, Biloli dated

7.1.1994 in LAR No.23/1992 (new) 54/1992 (old), the

2 FA 484.1994.odt

original claimants preferred this appeal.

2. Brief facts, giving rise to the present appeal are as

under :-

a] The agricultural land owned and possessed by the

claimants came to be acquired for the purpose of

construction of Jamkhed Medium Project Tank.

Notification under section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act

was published on 27.5.1985. The SLAO has awarded

compensation @ Rs.7,500/- per Hectare. Being

aggrieved by the inadequate compensation awarded by

the SLAO, the appellant original claimants preferred

LAR No.23/1992 (new) 54/1992 (old). It has been

contended in the claim petition that SLAO has not

considered the objections raised by the claimants. It

has been contended that the acquired land is situated at

the bank of the river having potentiality of giving yield of

two crops in a year. The SLAO has not considered the

situation, location, potentiality and advantages of the

acquired land. The Land Acquisition Officer has also

not considered the sale instances from the said area.

The appellants claimants used to fetch net income of

3 FA 484.1994.odt

Rs.10,000/- per acre from the acquired land.

3. Respondent-State has strongly resisted the said

reference petition by filing written statement. It has

been contended that SLAO has awarded just and

reasonable compensation for the acquired land. It has

been contended that the claimants have failed to place

any evidence on record despite of the service of notice

u/s 9 of the Act. The S.L.A.O. has considered bonafide

transactions of the land in the area and fixed the market

value of the land. It has been contended that the claim

of the claimant is too high and exorbitant.

4. The appellants claimants have adduced oral and

documentary evidence in support of their contentions.

Respondent-State has not adduced any evidence. The

learned Civil Juge S.D. Biloli by its impugned judgment

and award dated 7.1.1994 dismissed the reference

petition with costs. Hence, this appeal.

5. The learned counsel for the appellant submits that

the reference court has not considered the location,

fertility and the potentiality of the acquired lands. The

4 FA 484.1994.odt

reference court has not considered sale instances at

exh.33 and 34 respectively on which the claimants have

placed their reliance. The lands under the sale

instances are situated at a distance of one mile from the

acquired land. However, the reference court has

discarded those sale instances and dismissed the claim

petition in toto.

6. The learned counsel for the appellant submits that

some of the agriculturists from the same award whose

reference petitions came to be dismissed by the

Reference Court approached to this Court by filing FA

No.606/1994 and other connected appeals. This Court

by judgment and order dated 6.8.2013 in FA

No.606/1994 and other connected appeals quashed and

set aside the judgment and order passed by the

reference court and awarded the compensation at the

enhanced rate of Rs.10,000/- per acre corresponds to

Rs.25,000/- per hectare.

7. The learned AGP submits that the claimants have

failed to substantiate their claim and therefore, the

5 FA 484.1994.odt

reference court has rightly dismissed the reference

petition. The learned AGP submits that so far as sale

instance at exh.34 is concerned, the land under said

sale instance exh.34 is small portion of land and

compared to the larger area of the land under

acquisition, the Reference Court has rightly discarded

the sale instance from consideration. The learned AGP

however has not disputed that this court in F.A.

No.606/1994 and other connected appeals quashed and

set aside the dismissal order passed by the Reference

Court in respect of the other agriculturists-claimants

whose lands were acquired for the same project and

awarded the compensation at the enhanced rate of

Rs.10,000/- per acre corresponds to Rs.25,000/- per

Hectare.

8. On careful perusal of the judgment and award

passed by the Reference Court, though, the Reference

court has discussed at length about the sale instance

exh.33, discarded said sale instance without any

justifiable reasons. On careful perusal of the said sale

instance exh.33, it appears that land admeasuring 81R

6 FA 484.1994.odt

sold on 28.2.1984 for a consideration of Rs.16,500/-

under a registered sale deed. Said sale deed was

executed much prior to the section 4 notification in

respect of the acquired land which came to be published

in the official gazette on 27.5.1985.

9. This Court in FA No.606/1994 and other

connected appeals, in paragraph no.15 of the judgment,

has made following observations.

"15.The learned Reference Court in view of no documentary evidence, has held that since the sale instance is regarding land at village Hasnal and present lands are of village Tupdal, no proximity is shown and therefore the said sale instance was rejected. However, land acquisition proceedings for construction of Jamkhed Medium Project shows that lands of five villages were acquired. Those were village Hasnal, Tupdal(Budruk), Tupdal (Khurd), Chaundi and Pala. The award passed by the land acquisition officer shows that lands survey no.21, 23, 24 and 27 of village Hasnal were acquired for the said project. The present sale instance is of land survey no.26/c of village Hasnal. Thus, the proximity of the land is ex-facie proved. This sale instance shows that 81 R of land was sold on 24.2.1984 for a price of Rs.16,500/- i.e.Rs.8,250/- per acre. Since the notification under section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act was published on 27.5.1985 i.e. more than one year after the execution of the said sale instance, in my view, in the present cases also, compensation at the rate of Rs.10,000/- per acre i.e. Rs.25,000/- per hectare would be the true market value."

7 FA 484.1994.odt

10. In view of the discussion above and in terms of the

view already taken by this court in respect of the land

from the said award, the appellants-original claimants

are entitled for the compensation at the enhanced rate

of Rs.25,000/- per Hectare. Hence, following order.

O R D E R

i] First Appeal is hereby allowed. No costs.

Ii] Judgment and Order passed by the Civil Judge Senior Division, Biloli dated 7.1.1994 in LAR No.23/1992 (new) 54/1992 (old) is hereby quashed and set aside.

Iii] LAR No.23/1992 (new) 54/1992 (old) is hereby partly allowed with costs.

iv] Respondent State is directed to pay the compensation to the claimants @ Rs.25,000/- per hectare with solatium @ 30% and the statutory benefits and interest, as per law.

                V]         Decree be drawn up accordingly.


                Vi]        Appeal is accordingly disposed of.
                                                               SD/-

                                                  ( V.K. JADHAV, J. )

                                            ...

     aaa/-