The State Of Maharashtra And Ors vs Keshav Janardhan Varpe
2021 Latest Caselaw 6281 Bom

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              IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
                          BENCH AT AURANGABAD

                        901 FIRST APPEAL NO.1460 OF 2018

                     THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND ORS
                                   VERSUS
                          KESHAV JANARDHAN VARPE

                                      WITH

                           FIRST APPEAL NO.1461 OF 2018

                     THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND ORS
                                   VERSUS
                       BHAGWAT S/O. JANARDHAN VARPE

                                      WITH

                          FIRST APPEAL NO. 1462 OF 2018

                     THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND ORS
                                   VERSUS
                          VITTHAL MADHAV SHINDE
                                     ...

                    AGP for Appellant : S. S. Dande
        Advocate for Respondents - claimants: Mr. V. P. Latange

                                        ...

                                     CORAM : ANIL S. KILOR, J.
                                     DATE   : 08-04-2021

ORDER :

1. These are the First Appeals preferred by the State of

Maharashtra, Special Land Acquisition Officer and the acquiring

body challenging the Judgment and Award dated 22-01-2014,

passed by the learned 4th Joint Civil Judge, Senior Division at

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Osmanabad in L.A.R Nos. 177 of 2010, 175 of 2010 and 339 of

2010 partly allowing the references and thereby granting

enhanced compensation at the rate of Rs. 1,12,500/- per acre for

their acquired land along with all the statutory benefits.

2. I have heard the learned counsels for the respective parties.

3. Brief facts of the cases are as follows;

The lands of the claimants were acquired for the purpose of

Percolation Tank no. 3 at village Bavi. The compensation which

was determined by the Land Acquisition Officer was Rs. 25,000/-

per acre. Being dis-satisfied with the said amount of

compensation, the claimants filed references under section 18 of

the Land Acquisition Act for enhancement of compensation and

claim thereby rate of Rs. 1,00,000/- per acre.

. The opponents - respondents opposed the prayer of the

claimants for enhancement of compensation. The Learned

Reference Court after scrutinizing documentary as well as oral

evidence, partly allowed the References and granted the rate of

Rs. 1,12,000/- per acre along with all statutory benefits.

The said Judgment and Award dated 22-01-2014 is under

challenge in these appeals.

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4. The learned Assistant Government Pleader appearing for

the appellants submits that the compensation enhanced by the

Reference Court is exorbitant and sale instance on which the

Reference Court has relied upon, ought not to have been relied

upon for the reason that the said sale instance was not from the

same village. He further submits that the compensation

determined by the Land Acquisition Officer was proper. He

submits that the Judgment and Award of the Reference Court is

erroneous and is not sustainable in law.

5. Per contra, learned counsel Mr. Latange, appearing for the

claimants supports the Judgment and Award of Reference Court

and states that the Reference Court has rightly relied upon the

said sale instance Exhibit-13, and arrived at the just and fair

compensation of Rs. 1,12,500/- per acre. It is submitted that the

Land Acquisition Officer has not produced any contrary evidence

on record or no evidence has been produced in support of the

amount determined by the Land Acquisition Officer as Rs.

25,000/- per acre. The learned counsel Mr. Latange, appearing

for claimants prays for dismissal of Appeals.

6. Considering the contentions of the parties, I have perused

the documents on record and also gone through the Record and

Proceedings which is made available for perusal. There is no

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dispute that the lands acquired are of the village Bavi, whereas,

the Reference Court has relied upon the sale-deed exhibit-13

which is of village Terkheda Tq. Washi Dist. Osmanabad.

However, the Land Acquisition Officer has not produced even

single sale instance of village Bavi and, therefore, the sale deed

(Exhibit-13) wherein the land was sold for Rs. 1,50,000/- per

acre in 2001, the Reference Court has deducted 25% from

Rs. 1,50,000/- and arrived at the compensation of Rs. 1,12,500/-

per acre for which the claimants are entitled to.

7. The Reference Court has considered all the necessary

factors as per settled principle of law while determining the

amount of compensation. The learned Reference Court has also

considered the Judgments of the Hon'ble Supreme Court and also

of High Court and after detailed discussion and even after

considering the case put up by the appellants, with justifiable

reasons recorded in the impugned Judgment and Order,

enhanced the compensation at the rate of Rs. 1,12,500/- per

acre along with all statutory benefits.

8. In that view of the matter, I do not find any error

committed by the learned Reference Court and do not see any

perversity in determining the amount of compensation.

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9. In the circumstances, Appeals are dismissed. No order as

to costs.

10. Claimants are permitted to withdraw the amount lying in

this court along with interest accrued thereon, if any.

[ ANIL S. KILOR ] JUDGE

vdk/