Gujarat High Court
Lavjibhai Kurjibhai vs The Deputy Collector on 7 August, 2018
Author: Harsha Devani
Bench: Harsha Devani, A.S. Supehia
C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT
IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2825 of 2012
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 1546 of 2018
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 1547 of 2018
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 1548 of 2018
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 1549 of 2018
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 1550 of 2018
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 1552 of 2018
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 1553 of 2018
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 1554 of 2018
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 1555 of 2018
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 1556 of 2018
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 1557 of 2018
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 1558 of 2018
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 1559 of 2018
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 1561 of 2018
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 1972 of 2016
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 229 of 2016
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 230 of 2016
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 231 of 2016
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 232 of 2016
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 233 of 2016
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 234 of 2016
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 235 of 2016
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C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 236 of 2016
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 237 of 2016
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 238 of 2016
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 239 of 2016
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 240 of 2016
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 241 of 2016
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 242 of 2016
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 243 of 2016
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 244 of 2016
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 245 of 2016
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 246 of 2016
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2826 of 2012
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2827 of 2012
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2828 of 2012
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2829 of 2012
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2830 of 2012
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2831 of 2012
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2832 of 2012
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2833 of 2012
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2834 of 2012
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2835 of 2012
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2836 of 2012
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2837 of 2012
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2838 of 2012
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2839 of 2012
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2840 of 2012
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2841 of 2012
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2842 of 2012
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2843 of 2012
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2844 of 2012
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2845 of 2012
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2846 of 2012
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2847 of 2012
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2848 of 2012
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2849 of 2012
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2850 of 2012
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2851 of 2012
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2852 of 2012
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2853 of 2012
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2854 of 2012
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2855 of 2012
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2856 of 2012
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2857 of 2012
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2858 of 2012
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R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2859 of 2012
FOR APPROVAL AND SIGNATURE:
HONOURABLE MS.JUSTICE HARSHA DEVANI
and
HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE A.S. SUPEHIA
Page 3 of 89
C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT
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1 Whether Reporters of Local Papers may be allowed to
see the judgment ?
2 To be referred to the Reporter or not ?
3 Whether their Lordships wish to see the fair copy of the
judgment ?
4 Whether this case involves a substantial question of law
as to the interpretation of the Constitution of India or any
order made thereunder ?
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GOBARBHAI CHHAGANBHAI
Versus
DEPUTY COLLECTOR
Appearance:
Mr Bhargav Karia, Advocate for the appellants in First Appeals No.2825 to
2835 of 2012; No.2836 of 2012 to 2837 of 2012; No.2838 of 2012 to 2848 of
2012 and No.2849 of 2012 to 2859 of 2012 :
Mr. G. M. Amin, Advocate for the appellants in First Appeals No.229 of 2016 to
246 of 2016 and No.1972 of 2016
MR Kunan Naik, Advocate with Mr. Utsav Parikh, Advocate with Mr. V.T. Shah,
Advocate for the appellants in First Appeals No.1546 of 2018 to 1550 of 2018;
No.1552 of 2018 to 1559 of 2018 and No.1561 of 2018
Mr. Utkarsh Sharma, Assistant Government Pleader for the respondents in all
the appeals
CORAM: HONOURABLE MS.JUSTICE HARSHA DEVANI
And
HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE A.S. SUPEHIA
Date : 07/08/2018
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C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT
ORAL JUDGMENT
(PER : HONOURABLE MS.JUSTICE HARSHA DEVANI)
1. This batch of appeals is comprised of different groups arising out of separate awards passed by the Reference Court in connection with different villages situated in Amreli Taluka, Amreli District in respect of lands acquired for the public purpose of Vadi Irrigation Project. Though the acquired lands are from different villages of Amreli Taluka, the evidence adduced in each group of cases is more or less identical and the awards passed in each group of cases are also more or less identically worded and the market value determined in each case is also the same. Therefore, for the sake of convenience, all the appeals were heard together and are decided by this common judgment.
2. The brief facts giving rise to each group of appeals may be adverted to.
3. First Appeals No.2825 of 2012 to 2859 of 2012 arise out of the common judgment and award dated 31.03.2012 passed by the learned Principal Senior Civil Judge, Amreli in Land Reference Case No.68 of 1999 and allied matters.
3.1 Agricultural lands of the appellants situated in village Nana Bhandariya of Amreli taluka of Amreli district came to be acquired for the public purpose of the Vadi Irrigation Project. The notification under section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'), came to be published on 11.04.1996, whereas the declaration under section 6 of the Act came to be published in the Government Page 5 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT Gazette on 04.07.1996. Notices came to be issued under section 9 of the Act upon the interested parties, whereafter the Land Acquisition Officer made an award under section 11 of the Act on 17.07.1998 in L.A.Q. No.21 of 1995 awarding compensation of Rs.1,050/- per are (Rs.10.50 per square metre) for bagayat land and Rs.700/- per are (Rs.7/- per square metre) for jirayat land. Being dissatisfied with the award, the appellants filed applications under section 18 of the Act claiming compensation at the rate of Rs.400/- per square metre. The Reference Court determined the market value of the acquired lands at Rs.20/- per square metre for Jirayat lands and Rs.30/- per square metre for Bagayat lands.
4. First Appeals No.2836 of 2012 and 2837 of 2012 arise out of the judgment and award dated 31.3.2012 passed by the learned Principal Senior Civil Judge, Amreli in Land Reference Cases No.67/1999 (Main) and allied matters.
4.1 In these cases, lands bearing Survey No.224/paiki (part of), 224/1-B paiki, and 224/2 paiki etc. of village Mota Ankadiya came to be acquired for the public purpose of Vadi Irrigation Scheme. The notification under section 4 of the Act came to be published in the Government Gazette on 11.4.1996 and declaration under section 6 came to be published on 04.07.1996. The award under section 11 of the Act came to be made on 13.2.1998 in LAQ Case No.5/1995 determining the market value of the acquired lands at Rs.7/- per square metre for non-irrigated land and Rs.10.50 per square metre for irrigated land. Being dissatisfied with the award, the appellants filed applications under section 18 of the Act. The Reference Court determined the market value of the acquired lands at Page 6 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT Rs.20/- per square metre for Jirayat lands and Rs.30/- per square metre for Bagayat lands.
4.2 First Appeals No.2838 of 2012 to 2848 of 2012 arise out of the common judgment and award dated 31.03.2012 passed by the learned Principal Senior Civil Judge, Amreli in Land Reference Cases No.56-65/1999 and 176 of 1999.
4.3 In this case also, the lands situated in Village Nana Bhandariya, taluka and district Amreli came to be acquired for the public purpose for Vadi Irrigation Project. The notification under section 4 of the Act came to be published in the Government Gazette on 11.04.1996 and the declaration under section 6 of the Act came to be published on 18.07.1996. The Land Acquisition officer made an award under section 11 of the Act on 26.07.1998 in L.A.Q. No.20 of 1995 awarding compensation of Rs.1,050/- per are (Rs.10.50/- per square metre) for bagayat land and Rs.700/- per are (Rs.7/- per square metre) for jirayat land. Being dissatisfied with the award, the appellants made applications under section 18 of the Act. The Reference Court determined the market value of the acquired lands at Rs.20/- per square metre for Jirayat lands and Rs.30/- per square metre for Bagayat lands.
4.4 First Appeals No.2849 of 2012 to 2859 of 2012 and allied matters arise out of the common judgment and award dated 31.03.2012 passed by the learned Principal Senior Civil Judge, Amreli in Land Reference Cases No.41/2000 (Main) to 51/2000.
4.5 In these cases, lands of village Amarpur (Varudi) came to be acquired for the public purpose of Vadi Irrigation Scheme.
Page 7 of 89C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT The notification under section 4 of the Act came to be published in the Government Gazette on 16.06.1996 and declaration under section 6 came to be published on 13.07.1997. The award under section 11 of the Act came to be made on 29.06.1999 in LAQ Case No.30/1995 determining the market value of the acquired lands at Rs.7/- per square metre for non-irrigated land and Rs.10.50 per square metre for irrigated land. Being dissatisfied with the award, the appellants filed applications under section 18 of the Act. The Reference Court determined the market value of the acquired lands at Rs.20/- per square metre for Jirayat lands and Rs.30/- per square metre for Bagayat lands.
5. First Appeals No.229 of 2016 to 246 of 2016 and First Appeal No.1972 of 2016 arise out of the common judgment and award dated 30.04.2016 passed by the learned Principal Senior Civil Judge, Amreli in Land Reference Cases No.111/1999 (Main) to 133/1999.
5.1 In these cases, lands of village Mangvapal came to be acquired for the public purpose of Vadi Irrigation Scheme. The notification under section 4 of the Act came to be published in the Government Gazette on 01.02.1996 and declaration under section 6 came to be published on 19.03.1996. The award under section 11 of the Act came to be made on 14.05.1998 in LAQ Case No.9/1995 determining the market value of the acquired lands at Rs.7/- per square metre for non-irrigated land and Rs.10.50 per square metre for irrigated land. Being dissatisfied with the award, the appellants filed applications under section 18 of the Act. The Reference Court determined the market value of the acquired lands at Rs.20/- per square Page 8 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT metre for Jirayat lands and Rs.30/- per square metre for Bagayat lands.
6. First Appeals No.1546 of 2018 to 1550 of 2018 arise out of the judgment and award dated 30.04.2016 passed by the learned Principal Senior Civil Judge, Amreli in Land Reference Cases No.26/2006 (Main) to 42/2006. Vide order dated 28.06.2018, these appeals came to be admitted and were ordered to be heard with First Appeal No.229 of 2016 and other connected matters. Accordingly, these appeals were heard together with the above referred appeals.
6.1 In these cases, lands of village Mangvapal came to be acquired for the public purpose of Vadi Irrigation Scheme. The notification under section 4 of the Act came to be published in the Government Gazette on 19.01.2004 and declaration under section 6 came to be published on 27.01.2005. The award under section 11 of the Act came to be made on 06.10.2005 in LAQ Case No.19/2001 determining the market value of the acquired lands at Rs.7/- per square metre for non-irrigated land and Rs.10.50 per square metre for irrigated land. Being dissatisfied with the award, the appellants filed applications under section 18 of the Act. The Reference Court determined the market value of the acquired lands at Rs.20/- per square metre for Jirayat lands and Rs.30/- per square metre for Bagayat lands.
7. The above referred judgment and awards passed by the Reference Court are subject matter of challenge in all this batch of appeals.
Page 9 of 89C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT
8. Mr. Bhargav Karia, learned advocate for the appellants in First Appeals No. 2825 of 2012 to 2835 of 2012, First Appeals No.2836 of 2012 to 2837 of 2012, First Appeals No.2838 of 2012 to 2848 of 2012 and First Appeals No.2849 of 2012 to 2859 of 2012, took the court through the depositions of the witnesses at length and in great detail and submitted that the reference court has erred in brushing aside the depositions of the witnesses of the claimants, wherein description of the lands has been specifically given and it has been deposed that the facilities of water, electricity, etc are available in the village. It was submitted that in the cross-examination of the claimants no contradiction has been sought to be brought out as regards the facts stated by the respective witness about the description of the land viz. fertility, yield, location facilities available, etc. and hence, such facts stand duly proved. Reference was made to the testimony of witness Dhirubhai Manjibhai resident of Nana Machiyala, to submit that this witness has duly testified that the lands of village Nana Machiyala and the lands of the villages in question are similar in fertility, yield, etc. and therefore, the lands are comparable.
8.1 The attention of the court was invited to the judgment and award dated 29.06.2001 passed by the Reference Court in Land Reference Case No.83 of 1997 (Main) and allied matters wherein agricultural lands of village Nana Machiyala came to be acquired for the public purpose of Chittal-Amreli By-pass road to submit that before the Reference Court the appellants had placed reliance upon the previous award passed in respect of similar lands and had sought compensation on that basis. In the facts of the said case, the notification under section 4 of the Act notice came to be published on 08.02.1996 and the Page 10 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT Reference Court had determined the market value of the land at Rs.240/- per square metre. It was submitted that the distance between Nana Machiyala and Amreli and the distance between Amreli and Nana Bhandariya, Amarpur and Mota Ankadiya, is more or less the same, and hence, the Reference Court ought to have determined the compensation on the basis of the award passed in the case of village Nana Machiyala. It was pointed out that against the above award of the Reference Court in the case of village Nana Machiyala, the State of Gujarat had preferred an appeal before this High Court being First Appeal No.18 of 2002, which came to be dismissed by a judgment and order dated 28.01.2002. It was pointed out that special leave petitions filed before the Supreme Court against the said group of appeals also came to be dismissed. Thus, the above judgment and award passed by the Reference Court in case of village Nana Machiyala stands confirmed up till the Supreme Court and, therefore, could have been adopted as a basis for making an award in the case of the appellants also. However, the reference court has brushed aside the submissions made on behalf of the appellants on irrelevant considerations by considering the distance of the villages in question from village Nana Machiyala. It was submitted that it is the proximity of the concerned villages from Amreli town which is the District Headquarter and is as highly developed area that has to be taken into consideration for determining the market value of the acquired lands, which was also the basis for determining the market value in case of Nana Machiyala.
8.2 In support of his submissions, the learned advocate placed reliance upon the decision of the Supreme Court in the Page 11 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT case of Thakarsibhai Devjibhai v. Executive Engineer, Gujarat, (2001) 9 SCC 584, wherein the court held that the distance between the land in respect of which the sale deed had been brought on record as well as the distance between the land under acquisition even if they were 5 kilometres apart would not be relevant, the relevancy could be their distances from Viramgam town. It was submitted that in the facts of the present case what was relevant was not the distance of the villages in question from village Nana Machiyala, what was relevant was the distance of the villages in question from Amreli town. It was pointed out that the court in the above decision has also observed that the fact that the distance of the acquired land was 3 kilometres away from Viramgam whereas the distance of the lands of Exhibit 16 was two kilometres, was not such as to lead to the reduce rate of compensation having regard to the fact that the quality, including fertility of the two lands was similar. It was pointed out that in the facts of the present case the claimants witnesses have duly deposed that the land's of village Nana Machiyala and the acquired lands were similar in fertility, yield and all other aspects and no evidence has been led on behalf of the State to establish that there is any difference between them.
8.3 It was submitted that in case of village Nana Machiyala the distance between Amreli and Nana Machiyala being 8 kilometres, the Reference Court had determined the market price at Rs.240/- per square metre. According to the learned counsel, the distance of between village Nana Bhandariya and Amreli being comparable to the distance between Nana Machiyala and Amreli, the previous award made in case of Page 12 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT village Nana Machiyala ought to have been made the basis for determining the market value of the acquired lands in the present case and that the reference court has seriously erred in considering the distance between the villages in question from village Nana Machiyala instead of the distance of those villages from Amreli. It was submitted that the Reference Court has proceeded on an erroneous footing while brushing aside the submissions made on behalf of the claimants and awarding a meagre amount of Rs.30/- per are for bagayat land and Rs.20/- per are for jirayat land and that the market value in all these cases is required to be enhanced by applying the award made in the case of village Nana Machiyala.
8.4 The attention of the court was also invited to the decision of the Supreme Court. In the case of Deputy Collector, Land Acquisition, Gujarat v. Madhubai Gobarbhai , 2009 (15) S.C.C. 125, to point out that the said decision was rendered by the Supreme Court in the case of lands acquired for the Thebi Irrigation Project, in which case lands situated in villages Giriya, Baxipura and the limits of Amreli town came to be acquired. It was submitted that village Giriya is similarly situated to the villages in question and hence, the appellants are entitled to determination of market value on the same basis as determined by the Supreme Court in the above decision. It was emphatically argued that the award in the case of Nana Machiyala should be adopted for the determination of the market value of the lands in question; however, if the court is not inclined to adopt Nana Machiyala as a basis, the market value as determined by the Supreme Court in the case of Madhubai Gobarbhai (supra) may be made the basis for determination of the market value of the Page 13 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT acquired lands in these cases. It was submitted that in the above decision the Supreme Court has categorized the acquired lands into three groups, viz. Group I, Group II and Group III and that the lands in question are comparable to the lands falling under Group II wherein the court has determined the market value at the rate of Rs.125/- per square metre for agricultural lands and Rs.250/- per square metre for non- agricultural lands. Therefore, if the court is not inclined to adopt the market value as determined in the case of village Nana Machiyala, alternatively, the market value determined in that case may be made the basis for determining the market value in this case.
9. Mr. G. M. Amin, learned advocate for the appellants in First Appeals No.229 of 2016 to 246 of 2016 and 1972 of 2016 adopted the submissions advanced by Mr. B.D. Karia. The learned advocate also drew the attention of the court to the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Chimanlal Hargovinddas v. Special Land Acquisition Officer, (1988) 3 SCC 751, to point out the factors that are required to be kept in mind by the Reference Court while determining the market value. Referring to the impugned judgment and award, it was submitted that the Reference Court has placed reliance upon the contents of the award and has proceeded with the reference as if the same is in the nature of the appeal against the award passed by the Land Acquisition Officer. It was submitted that the Supreme Court in the above case has held that a reference under section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act is not an appeal against the award and the court cannot take into account the material relied upon by the Land Acquisition Officer in his award unless the same material is produced and Page 14 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT proved before the court. The award of the Land Acquisition Officer is not to be treated as a judgment of the trial court open or exposed to challenge before the court hearing the reference. It is merely an offer made by the Land Acquisition Officer and the material utilized by him for making his valuation cannot be utilized by the court unless produced and proved before it. It was submitted that in the facts of the present case, the Land Acquisition Officer, in his cross- examination has squarely admitted that the sale deeds produced by him before the Reference Court were not available with him at the time when he made the award. It was submitted that the Reference Court instead of treating the reference as an original proceeding before it and determining the market value afresh on the basis of the material produced before it, has treated it as an appeal against the award made by the Land Acquisition Officer.
9.1 Reference was also made to the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Lal Chand v. Union of India, (2009) 15 S.C.C. 769, for the proposition that mere production of some exemplar deeds without "connecting" the subject matter of the instrument, to the acquired lands will be of little assistance in determining the market value. Section 51A of the Land Acquisition Act only exempts production of the original sale deed and examination of the vendor or vendee. It was submitted that in the facts of the present case, while certain sale deeds have been produced on record by the Land Acquisition Officer, the same cannot be taken into consideration for the purpose of determining the market value as there is nothing to show that the lands which were subject matter of the sale deeds were in any manner similar to the Page 15 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT acquired lands.
9.2 Reliance was also placed upon the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Bhusawal Municipal Council v. Nivrutti Ramchandra Phalak, (2015) 14 SCC 327, wherein the court had held that the provisions of the 1894 Act provide for two awards; one is made by the Land Acquisition Collector under section 11 of the 1894 Act which is an offer on behalf of the State as he also acts as an agent of the State, and the second award is made by the court under section 18 of the 1894 Act. Assessing the market value of the land is generally a guesswork. The Reference Court after examining and the evidence adduced by the parties assesses the market value of the land.
9.3 Reliance was also placed upon the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Hirabai v. L.A.O. Cum. Asst. Commr., (2010) 10 SCC 492, to submit that the value of irrigated land has been taken to be one and half times that of dry land. It was submitted that the above standard should be adopted while determining the market value of the irrigated land and the non-irrigated land. It was pointed out that in the award passed by the Reference Court in the case of village Nana Machiyala, the market value has been determined at Rs.240/- per square metre for non-irrigated land and that while determining the market value of the irrigated lands, the above parameters laid by the Supreme Court should be adopted and the market value of the irrigated land should be determined at one and half times for market value for non-irrigated land which would come to around Rs.360/- per square metre.
Page 16 of 89C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT 9.4 Reliance was also placed upon the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Kantaben Manibhai Amin v. Special Land Acquisition Officer, (1989) 4 SCC 662 AIR 1990 S.C. 103, wherein the court observed thus:
"4. The High Court valued the land at Rs 8500 per acre. This value is, in our view, correctly determined. It is not disputed that the land in question is bagayat and, therefore, superior in quality to jirayat. But to what extent it is superior to jirayat has not been established by the claimants. The land being bagayat, the Land Acquisition Officer awarded 25 per cent excess compensation over and above the market value of jirayat land. Adopting that margin, and also accepting the finding of the learned Civil Judge that the average price indicated by Exts. 78, 99, 135 and 136, which were contemporaneous documents of sale of jirayat land, comes to Rs 6800 per acre, we are of the view that Rs 8500 per acre would be the correct value of the acquired land. In view of the finding that certain improvements have been made by way of cultivation and erection of permanent structures, etc., we are further of the view that a sum of Rs 1700 per acre should be added as value of improvements. So computed, we hold that the claimants are entitled to compensation at the rate of Rs 10,200 per acre for the entire land. In addition to this, the claimants are of course entitled to solatium and interest payable under the Land Acquisition Act."
9.5 It was, accordingly urged that the appeals deserve to be Page 17 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT allowed and the compensation as claimed by the appellants be granted.
10. Mr. Kunan Naik learned advocate with Mr. V.T. Shah and Mr. Utsav Parikh, learned advocates for the appellants in First Appeals No. 1546 to 1550 of 2018, submitted that the Reference Court has failed to examine the evidence on record in proper perspective and has misdirected itself by solely taking the award under section 18 of the Act in the previous land reference cases in respect of the same village into consideration for the purpose of determining the market value of the acquired lands and ignoring the other evidence produced on record by the appellants. According to the learned advocate, the distance from Amreli to village Mangvapal and the distance from Amreli to village Giriya is the same, and, therefore, the lands of the appellants are comparable to the lands of village Giriya, which came to be acquired for the Thebi Irrigation Project. It was submitted that village Mangvapal is situated on the periphery of Amreli town and is at present more like a suburb, whereas village Nana Machiyala is situated at a considerable distance from Amreli. It was submitted that the lands of village Nana Machiyala came to be acquired for the public purpose of Chital-Amreli Bypass Road, wherein the notification under section 4 of the Act came to be published on 8.2.1996. In the land reference cases arising from acquisition of the lands of village Nana Machiyala, the Reference Court had determined the market value of the agricultural land at Rs.240/- per square metre which has been upheld by the High Court and the SLP against the decision of the High Court has been dismissed. It was submitted that village Mangvapal being better situated than village Nana Machiyala, the Reference Page 18 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT Court ought to have determined the compensation at a higher market value than that awarded for village Nana Machiyala. It was submitted that in case of village Nana Machiyala, the notification under section 4 of the Act came to be published on 08.02.1996 whereas in the facts of the present case the notification under section 4 of the Act came to be published on 19.01.2004. According to the learned advocate, during the period from 1996 to 2004 when the section 4 notification came to be issued in the present case, viz. a period of eight years, there has been considerable development in the area. In these circumstances, the Reference Court ought to have determined the market value at least at the rate determined in the case of Nana Machiyala and thereafter considering such market value for the year 1996, it should ordinarily have given 10% increase for each year till 2004. However, village Mangvapal being situated in the immediate vicinity of Amreli, the increase per year should be considered at the rate of 12.5 to 15%.
10.1 In support of such submission, the learned advocate placed reliance upon the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Madhusudan Kabra v. State of Maharashtra, (2018) 1 SCC 140, wherein the court held thus:
"The appellants are before this Court, aggrieved by the order passed by the High Court, declining to grant land value to the extent they had prayed before the Reference Court. The acquisition is pursuant to the Notification under section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 in 1992. The Land Acquisition Collector relied on exemplar of 1988 and granted compensation to the Page 19 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT tune of Rs.23,500/- per hectare. The Reference Court declined to grant any enhancement. The High Court, taking note of the fact that the acquisition is of the year 1992 but the Signature Not Verified Digitally signed by NARENDRA PRASAD Date: 2017.11.10 exemplar taken is of 1988, granted 10% annual increase on the exemplar and thus granted a further amount of Rs.8,400/- thus total compensation of Rs.32,000/- per hectare was granted towards acquisition for the purpose of a canal. Though the appellants took several contentions before this Court, while issuing notice by order dated 12.08.2016 we have made it clear that the scope of inquiry by this Court would be limited to two aspects, one the percentage of enhancement and the other, whether it should be on the simple or compound basis.
3. Having regard to the facts and circumstances of this case, we are of the view that the interests of justice would be served by fixing annual increase on the exemplar, in the peculiar facts of this case by 15% at compounding rate."
10.2 The decision of the Supreme Court in Land Acquisition Officer and Revenue Divisional Officer v. Ramanjulu and others, (2005) 9 SCC 594, was cited for a similar proposition of law, the relevant portion whereof is extracted hereunder:
"4. Under Exhibit B-13, the lands were acquired for the same purpose for which the lands are acquired in these cases. The notification issued under Section 4(1) of the Act in the case covered by Exhibit B-13 was issued on Page 20 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT 11-12-1974 and the notification in these cases was issued on 30-12-1976. The market value of the lands acquired at the rate of rupees fifty per square yard under Exhibit B-13 has become final. As already stated above, the amount per acre fixed at the rate of rupees fifty per square yard comes to Rs 2,44,400. If an amount of rupees forty-eight thousand is added towards escalation for two years at the rate of ten per cent, as done by the High Court in the impugned judgment, it comes to Rs 2,92,400 per acre (Rs 2,44,400 + Rs 48,000 = Rs 2,92,400). Admittedly, the lands acquired are agricultural lands. It is on record that these lands have potentialities for conversion into house sites. They are acquired for the third phase of expansion of industrial estate. In these circumstances, certain amount has to be deducted towards developmental charges. Ordinarily, one-third deduction towards developmental charges would be made, but in these cases, having regard to the facts and circumstances, particularly taking note of the fact that the lands are acquired for expansion of industrial estate, that too for the third phase, and also taking note of the fact that the lands acquired are levelled lands adjoining to developed lands for Phase I and Phase II of industrial estate, we think it is just and appropriate to deduct fifteen per cent towards developmental charges. Fifteen per cent of Rs 2,92,400 comes to Rs 43,800. If this amount is deducted, it comes to Rs 2,48,600 per acre; and we round it off to rupees two lakhs and fifty thousand per acre. Thus, under the circumstances, we determine the market value of the lands acquired at the rate of rupees two lakhs and fifty Page 21 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT thousand per acre, making it clear that the claimants are entitled to all the statutory benefits available to them under the Amendment Act 68 of 1984 of the Act on the amount of compensation as determined above. Under these circumstances, we do not find any good ground either to enhance the amount of compensation or reduce it. Thus, the civil appeals stand disposed of in the above terms."
10.3 Reliance was also placed upon the decision of the Supreme Court in Kashmir Singh v. State of Haryana and others, (2014) 2 SCC 165, wherein the court awarded an increase of 12% per year while determining the market value of the acquired lands. The court held thus:
"12. We are of the view that the matter does not require elaborate discussion inasmuch as the acquisition of land in Fatehabad District itself, which was acquired in the year 1993 was the subject-matter of consideration in Ashrafi. In that case, the Court had dealt with various notifications issued by different State Governments acquiring lands in their respective States. It included acquisition of lands situated in Fatehabad, District Hissar, Haryana as well. The Court fixed the compensation @ Rs 350 per square yard as on 1993 and the following discussion ensued in this behalf in para 50 of the judgment.
13. It is clear from the above that price of land in the said area in 1991 was fixed @ Rs 420 per square yard. The Court had applied the formula of 12% per year in Page 22 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT the valuation of land and on that basis fixed the market rate at approximately Rs 520 per square yard after taking a deduction of one-third, the valuation was arrived at Rs 350 per square yard in the year 1993. The relevant portion of the judgment, in this behalf reads as under: (Ashrafi case, SCC pp. 543-44, para 50) "50. In regard to the 157.20 acres of land situated in Fatehabad, District Hissar, Haryana, acquired for utilisation and development of residential and commercial purposes in Sector 3, Fatehabad, the compensation in respect thereof has been questioned in Civil Appeals Nos. 319-52 of 2011 by one Mukesh and a number of appeals have been tagged with the said matter, including the one filed by the Haryana Urban Development Authority, being SLPs (C) Nos. 26772-79 of 2009 (now appeals). As indicated hereinbefore, in para 25, the Collector had awarded compensation at a uniform rate of Rs 1,81,200 per acre along with statutory benefits. The Reference Court determined the compensation at the uniform rate of Rs 206 per square yard. The High Court modified the said award and awarded compensation at the rate of Rs 260 per square yard for the land acquired up to the depth of 100 metres abutting National Highway 10. The value of the rest of the acquired land was maintained at Rs 206 per square yard. The area in question being already developed to some extent, a cut of 50% on the value is, in our view, excessive. We agree with Mr Swarup that resorting to the belting system by the High Page 23 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT Court was improper and that at best a standard cut of one-third would have been sufficient to balance the smallness of the exhibits produced. It has been pointed out by Mr Swarup that on a comparative basis, the price of lands in the area in 1991 was on an average of about Rs 420 per square yard. Given the sharp rise in land prices, the value, according to Mr Swarup, would have doubled to about Rs 800 per square yard by 1993. Even if we have to apply the formula of 12% increase, the valuation of the lands in question in 1993 would be approximately Rs 527 per square yard. Imposing a deduction of one-third, valuation comes to about Rs 350 per square yard, which, in our view, would be the proper compensation for the lands covered in the case of Mukesh and other connected matters."
14. Going by the formula adopted in the aforesaid judgment, 12% per annum increase can be applied on the value of land determined as Rs 520 per square yard in the year 1993, up to the year 2001 when the notification under Section 4 of the Act was issued in the instant case. However, we cannot be oblivious to the fact that from 1993 to 2001, there was a period when instead of increase in the land price, there was attrition in the land rates. Therefore, we would like to enhance the value by applying the formula of 12% per annum increase for a period of 4 years, instead of taking the entire period from 1993 to 2001 (and this would not be treated as a precedent). When calculated in this manner, the valuation of the land in the year 2001 shall Page 24 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT come to Rs 770 per square yard. After making a deduction of one-third therefrom the net valuation comes to Rs 514 per square yard. Compared to the land value of this very area in 1993 which was fixed at Rs 350 per square yard, we have increased the same by about 50% over a period of 7 years or so, which we think, is quite reasonable as this much compensation is legitimately due to the appellants. We, accordingly, fix the compensation @ Rs 514 per square yard for the acquired land of the appellants."
10.4 The decision of the Supreme Court in Pehlad Ram and others v. Haryana Urban Development Authority and others, (2014) 14 SCC 778, was cited for a similar proposition of law wherein the court had granted an annual increase in the market value of the land at the rate of 15%. The court held thus:
"8. It is further submitted by the learned counsel for the appellants that this Court may award the compensation taking note of annual increase in the market value of the land @ 15%. Such a view taken by the learned counsel for the appellants stands fully justified in terms of the judgments as referred hereinbelow.
9. In Hindustan Oil Mills Ltd. v. Collector (LA), (1990) 1 SCC 59, this Court held that generally the value of the land doubles in five years and opined that an increase of 20% per year is a normal formula.
10. In State of Haryana v. Gurbax Singh, (2008) 11 SCC 65, this Court approved the principle adopted by the Page 25 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT High Court while assessing the market value under Section 23 of the Act, or giving marginal enhancement of compensation @ 12% per annum for two years since acquisition, comparing the value with the land notified under Section 4 of the Act, two years prior to the notification under Section 4 involved in the case.
11. In ONGC Ltd. v. Rameshbhai Jivanbhai Patel, (2008) 14 SCC 745, this Court has applied the same formula giving cumulative rate of escalation @ 7.5% per annum, though found that cumulative increase of 10 to 15% was permissible.
12. Similarly, in Sardar Jogendra Singh v. State of U.P., (2008) 17 SCC 133, the same principle had been applied by this Court giving 10% increment per year. Thus, total increase in ten years to the tune of 100% was found justified.
13. In Lal Chand v. Union of India, (2009) 15 SCC 769, a similar formula had been applied, however, as the previous sale or acquisition was not available for the last 20 years, this Court did not approve the formula giving annual increment for 20 years continuously.
14. In Satish v. State of U.P., (2009) 14 SCC 758, the same principle was followed adopting the formula of 10% increase per year."
10.5 Referring to the testimony of the claimants' witness Shri Becharbhai Gokalbhai Kachadiya (Exhibit 13), it was submitted that the witness has deposed that their lands were fertile lands and there were facilities of irrigation and bore well. That there were facilities of tar road, electricity and water Page 26 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT supply etc., and that their village had the facilities of hospital, school, milk society, telephone, bus and railways. It was pointed out that the witness has also deposed that near the acquired lands, there were industries like ginning mill, milk dairy, plastic factory etc. It was submitted that none of the facts stated by the witness in his examination-in-chief have been contradicted in his cross-examination, and, therefore, such facts stand un-rebutted. It was submitted that if the market value as determined in case of village Nana Machiyala is taken as a basis and 10% to 15% annual increase is given thereon, the market value of the lands in question would exceed the claim of the appellants which is Rs.500/- per square metre. It was submitted that the appellants have also moved an application for enhancement of the claim to Rs.705/- per square metre which may be allowed and that even otherwise it is settled principle of law that if the market value determined exceeds the claim of the claimants, they claimant cannot be denied the benefit thereof. In support of such submission the learned advocate place reliance upon the decision of the Supreme Court in Ashok Kumar v. State of Haryana, (2016) 4 SCC 544, wherein the court held thus:
"9. In Bhag Singh v. UT of Chandigarh3, this Court held that there may be situations where the amount higher than the amount claimed may be awarded to the claimant. The Court observed:
"3. ... It must be remembered that this was not a dispute between two private citizens where it would be quite just and legitimate to confine the claimant Page 27 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT to the claim made by him and not to award him any higher amount than that claimed though even in such a case there may be situations where an amount higher than that claimed can be awarded to the claimant as for instance where an amount is claimed as due at the foot of an account. Here was a claim made by the appellants against the State Government for compensation for acquisition of their land and under the law, the State was bound to pay to the appellants compensation on the basis of the market value of the land acquired and if according to the judgments of the learned Single Judge and the Division Bench, the market value of the land acquired was higher than that awarded by the Land Acquisition Collector or the Additional District Judge, there is no reason why the appellants should have been denied the benefit of payment of the market value so determined. To deny this benefit to the appellants would tantamount to permitting the State Government to acquire the land of the appellants on payment of less than the true market value. There may be cases where, as for instance, under agrarian reform legislation, the holder of land may, legitimately, as a matter of social justice, with a view to eliminating concentration of land in the hands of a few and bringing about its equitable distribution, be deprived of land which is not being personally cultivated by him or which is in excess of the ceiling area with payment of little compensation or no compensation at all, but where land is acquired under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, it would not be Page 28 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT fair and just to deprive the holder of his land without payment of the true market value when the law, in so many terms, declares that he shall be paid such market value."
10.6 It was, accordingly, urged that the Reference Court has drawn inferences not warranted by the evidence on record and that has led to wrong findings and has resulted into miscarriage of justice. It was submitted that the learned Judge has completely overlooked the fact that the previous award was made in a case where the notification under section 4 of the Act was published in the year 1996, whereas in the present, the notification under section 4 of the Act came to be published in the year 2004, and has failed to give compounding increment for each year from 1996 to 2004 in terms of the settled law as propounded by the Supreme Court. It was urged that the impugned judgment and award dated 12.12.2017 passed by the Reference Court, therefore, deserves to be set aside and the compensation is required to be enhanced by applying the market value as determined in the case of village Nana Machiyala and giving compounding increment for each year.
11. Opposing the appeals, Mr. Utkarsh Sharma, learned Assistant Government Pleader, submitted that the Reference Court has duly appreciated the evidence on record and has rightly awarded compensation at the rate of Rs.20/- per square metre for non-irrigated land and Rs.30/- per square metre for irrigated land which is the correct market value of the acquired lands. It was submitted that reliance placed upon the award Page 29 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT made in case of village Nana Machiyala is misconceived, inasmuch as those lands are not comparable with the lands acquired for the purpose of the Vadi Irrigation Project. It was submitted that village Nana Machiyala is situated on the Amreli
- Chital road which is a developed area whereas the villages in question are situated on the Amreli - Kunkavav road which is much less developed by comparision. It was further submitted that while the Supreme Court has summarily dismissed the SLP against the decision of the High Court confirming the award made in the case of village Nana Machiyala, it has given a detailed judgment in the case of State of Gujarat v. Madhubai Gobarbhai (supra) wherein lands were acquired for the Thebi Irrigation Project and has reduced the compensation awarded by the High Court. It was submitted that in the case of Nana Machiyala the Reference Court had placed reliance upon the award made in case of the acquisition for the Thebi Irrigation Project and awarded Rs.240/- per square metre; however, the very basis on which the award was made in the case of Nana Machiyala no longer exists as the Supreme Court has reduced the compensation awarded by the Reference Court and the High Court. It was submitted that therefore, the market value as determined in the case of village Nana Machiyala may not be taken as a basis for determining the market value of the lands in question.
11.1 It was further submitted that before the Reference Court, no evidence has been adduced by the claimants based upon sale deeds in proximity in time to the notification under section 4 of the Act, nor has any substantial evidence been produced so as to enable the Reference Court to determine the market value on yield basis. The Reference Court has, Page 30 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT therefore, rightly relied upon the evidence produced by the respondents and determined the market value accordingly. It was urged that the impugned judgment and award being just, legal and proper, does not call for any interference by this court.
12. Before entering into the merits of the appeals, it may be germane to refer to the principles which are required to be kept in mind while determining the market value of acquired lands as held by the Supreme Court in Chimanlal Hargovinddas v. Special Land Acquisition Officer, (supra), wherein it was held thus:
"4. The following factors must be etched on the mental screen:
(1) A reference under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act is not an appeal against the award and the court cannot take into account the material relied upon by the Land Acquisition Officer in his award unless the same material is produced and proved before the court.
(2) So also the award of the Land Acquisition Officer is not to be treated as a judgment of the trial court open or exposed to challenge before the court hearing the reference. It is merely an offer made by the Land Acquisition Officer and the material utilised by him for making his valuation cannot be utilised by the court unless produced and proved before it. It is not the function of the court to sit in appeal against the award, approve or disapprove its reasoning, or correct its error or affirm, modify or reverse the conclusion reached by the Land Acquisition Officer, as if it were an appellate court.
(3) The court has to treat the reference as an original proceeding before it and determine the market value afresh on the basis of the material produced before it.Page 31 of 89
C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT (4) The claimant is in the position of a plaintiff who has to show that the price offered for his land in the award is inadequate on the basis of the materials produced in the court. Of course the materials placed and proved by the other side can also be taken into account for this purpose.
(5) The market value of land under acquisition has to be determined as on the crucial date of publication of the notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act (dates of notifications under Sections 6 and 9 are irrelevant).
(6) The determination has to be made standing on the date line of valuation (date of publication of notification under Section 4) as if the valuer is a hypothetical purchaser willing to purchase land from the open market and is prepared to pay a reasonable price as on that day. It has also to be assumed that the vendor is willing to sell the land at a reasonable price.
(7) In doing so by the instances method, the court has to correlate the market value reflected in the most comparable instance which provides the index of market value.
(8) Only genuine instances have to be taken into account. (Sometimes instances are rigged up in anticipation of acquisition of land.) (9) Even post-notification instances can be taken into account (1) if they are very proximate, (2) genuine and (3) the acquisition itself has not motivated the purchaser to pay a higher price on account of the resultant improvement in development prospects.
(10) The most comparable instances out of the genuine instances have to be identified on the following considerations:
(i) proximity from time angle,
(ii) proximity from situation angle.
(11)Having identified the instances which provide the index of market value the price reflected therein may be taken as the norm and the market value of the land under acquisition may be deduced by making suitable adjustments for the plus and minus factors vis-à-vis land under acquisition by placing the two in juxtaposition.
(12) A balance-sheet of plus and minus factors may be drawn for this purpose and the relevant factors may Page 32 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT be evaluated in terms of price variation as a prudent purchaser would do.
(13) The market value of the land under acquisition has thereafter to be deduced by loading the price reflected in the instance taken as norm for plus factors and unloading it for minus factors.
(14) The exercise indicated in clauses (11) to (13) has to be undertaken in a common sense manner as a prudent man of the world of business would do. We may illustrate some such illustrative (not exhaustive) factors:
Plus factors Minus factors 1. smallness of size 1. largeness of area 2. proximity to a road 2. situation in the interior at a distance from the road 3. frontage on a road 3. narrow strip of land
with very small frontage compared to depth
4. nearness to developed area 4. lower level requiring the depressed portion to be filled up
5. regular shape 5. remoteness from developed locality
6. level vis-à-vis land under acquisition 6.
some special disadvantageous factor which would deter a purchaser
7. special value for an owner of an adjoining property to whom it may have some very special advantage (15) The evaluation of these factors of course depends on the facts of each case. There cannot be any hard and fast or rigid rule. Common sense is the best and most reliable guide. For instance, take the factor regarding the size. A building plot of land say 500 to 1000 sq. yds. cannot be compared with a large tract or block of land of say 10,000 sq. yds. or more. Firstly while a smaller plot is within the reach of many, a large block of land will have to be developed by preparing a lay out, carving out roads, leaving open space, plotting out smaller plots, waiting for purchasers (meanwhile the invested money will be blocked up) and the hazards of an entrepreneur. The factor can be discounted by making a deduction by way of an allowance at an appropriate rate ranging approximately between 20 per cent to 50 per cent to account for land required to be set apart for carving out lands and plotting out small plots. The discounting will to Page 33 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT some extent also depend on whether it is a rural area or urban area, whether building activity is picking up, and whether waiting period during which the capital of the entrepreneur would be locked up, will be longer or shorter and the attendant hazards.
(16) Every case must be dealt with on its own fact pattern bearing in mind all these factors as a prudent purchaser of land in which position the judge must place himself.
(17) These are general guidelines to be applied with understanding informed with common sense."
13. At the outset it may be noted that in four groups of appeals, relating to villages Nana Bhandariya, Mota Ankadiya, and Amarpur (Varudi) wherein the notification under section 4 of the Act was published in the year 1995 and 1996, the evidence recorded is more or less identical. Insofar as the oral evidence is concerned, one of the claimants out of each group has deposed on behalf of all the claimants of that group and the testimonies of claimants in each group of cases in case of all the four villages are more or less identically worded. The other two witnesses examined on behalf of the claimants in all the groups are common and their testimonies are also identical so is the case with the testimonies of the witnesses of the respondents, which are more or less verbatim the same. Thus, the evidence in all the cases is common despite the fact that the same relates to different villages which are situated at different distances from Amreli city. Insofar as the quality of land, fertility, yield and facilities available in each village is concerned, the evidence is identical and there is no cross- examination as regards these facts except that the witness has admitted in each case that he has not produced any documentary evidence in support of his say that such facilities Page 34 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT were available in their village. On behalf of the respondents reliance has been placed upon the same set of sale deeds which admittedly were not available at the time when the respective awards came to be made. In each case, the Land Acquisition Officer has awarded Rs.7/- per square metre for jirayat lands and Rs.10.50 per sq metre for bagayat Land.
14. In view of the above, for the sake of convenience reference is made to the evidence as recorded in Land Reference Cases No.56 of 1999 and allied matters (First Appeals No.2838 to 2848 of 2012).
15. Before the Reference Court, on behalf of the appellants three witnesses came to be examined namely - (i) Shri Kasambhai Umarbhai (Exhibit 14); (ii) Shri Dhirubhai Manjibhai (Exhibit 18); and (iii) Shri Manandbhai Danabhai (Exhibit 106). The claimants have also adduced documentary evidence in the nature of extracts of Village Form No.7x12 of certain agricultural lands, map of Vadi WR Project and Thebi WR Project, as well as copies of the various judgments, which shall be referred to hereinafter.
16. Shri Kasambhai Umarbhai, who has been examined at Exh.14, deposed that his land as well as the lands of the other claimants are similar in fertility and give valuable yield and all the lands are irrigated lands having facility of irrigation and bore-wells. They grow cotton, groundnuts, sesame, millet, etc. in a year and take two to three crops. They get a yield of 6 to 7 quintals per vigha and as per the price of the crops in the year 1997, they used to earn about Rs.50,000/- per vigha per annum, out of which they had to incur expenses of half the Page 35 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT amount and the balance was clear profit. He has further deposed that their village had facilities of tar road, electricity and water supply. There are facilities of hospital, school, milk society, telephone, bus and railway in their village and their village is at a distance of 3 to 5 kilometres from Amreli and Nana Machiyala. At present, the area between Amreli and Nana Machiyala is fast developing and their village is a developing village, which is continually developing.
16.1 The witness has further deposed that village Nana Machiyala is at a distance of about 4 kilometres from their village and that agricultural lands of that village came to be acquired for the purpose of Chittal-Amreli By-pass Road. In the said case, the Reference Court had determined the market price of the land at Rs.240/- per square metre, which was confirmed by the High Court and the SLP before the Supreme Court came to be dismissed.
16.2 The witness has further deposed that the lands of their village and the lands of Nana Machiyala are similar in fertility and give valuable yield and the acquired lands are situated near Nana Machiyala at a distance of 4 kilometres and the boundaries of both the villages are near each other, and both the villages are situated near Amreli and are developing villages. The witness has produced extracts of Village Form No.7 x 12 as well as copies of the judgments of the Reference Court, the High Court and the Supreme Court.
16.3 In the cross-examination of the witness, it has been elicited that all the acquired lands are levelled. It has further Page 36 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT come out that he has not produced any evidence as regards the accounts of his income and the expenditure incurred for agricultural purposes for the reason that he was not called upon to do so. He had admitted that he has not produced any documentary evidence to show how fertile his lands were. He has admitted that he has not produced any evidence to show that there are facilities of telephone, electricity, water, milk society, hospital, etc. in his village. He has also been cross- examined at length as regards the distance of his village from other villages in the district.
16.4 Thus, from the testimony of this witness, it is established that their lands were fertile lands with irrigation facilities and that there were facilities of electricity, water supply, school, hospital, milk society, bus, train etc. inasmuch as though no documentary evidence has been produced in support thereof, the testimony of the witness has not been contradicted in his cross-examination.
16.5 In Land Reference Case No.68/1999 (Main) (First Appeal No.2825 of 2012 and allied matters) one Bhikhabhai Keshavbhai; in Land Reference Case No.67/1999 (Main) (First Appeal No.2386 of 2012 and allied matters) one Shardulbhai Jasabhai; and in Land Reference Case No.41/2000(Main) (First Appeal No.2849 of 2012 and allied matters), one Shantilal Maganlal; all of whom are claimants have been examined. The testimonies of each of these witnesses are more or less identical to the testimony of Kasambhai Umarbhai, except for the name of the village and distance of the concerned village, etc. Page 37 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT
17. Shri Dhirubhai Manjibhai, resident of village Nana Machiyala, has been examined at Exhibit18. This witness is a common witness in all the land reference cases. This witness has deposed that he owned land within the limits of village Nana Machiyala, which was subject matter of acquisition for the Chittal By-pass Road. The Land Acquisition Officer had awarded a meagre amount by way of compensation, against which they had filed Land Reference Applications No.80/97 to of 85/1997, wherein the reference court had determined the market value at Rs.240/- per square metre. Against the said judgment and award, the State Government had filed First Appeals No.18/2002 to 23/2002 before the High Court, which came to be dismissed by a judgment and order dated 28.01.2002. Against the said judgment and order passed by the High Court, the State Government had approached the Supreme Court by way of Special Leave Petitions No.733- 738/2003, which came to be dismissed by the Supreme Court by a judgment and order dated 24.01.2003.
17.1 The witness has deposed that villages Amarpur (Varudi), Venivadar, Nana Bhandariya, Mota Ankadiya, Pipalag, etc. are situated within a distance of 3 to 5 kilometres from their village. A dam is being constructed on the Vadi River known as 'Vadi Irrigation Project', which passes through the limits of those villages, and such project is at a distance of about 2 to 3 kilometres from their village. He has further deposed that the boundaries of Venivadar, Amarpur (Varudi) villages are situated near the boundaries of their village at a distance of approximately 3 kilometres and village Nana Bhandariya and Mota Ankadiya as well as Pipalag are situated Page 38 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT adjoining them. The witness has further deposed that he has seen the lands of Venivadar, Nana Bhandariya, Amarpur (Varudi), etc. which have been acquired for the Vadi Irrigation Project. The lands which have been acquired for the Vadi Irrigation Project are similar to their lands of village Nana Machiyala in quality and fertility and yield valuable crops like groundnut, cotton, etc. 17.2 In his cross-examination, the witness has admitted that he has not deposed as a witness in the land reference cases pertaining to their acquisition. He has admitted that he has no documentary evidence to show that village Amarpur Varudi is at a distance of 3 to 5 kilometres from their village. The witness has been cross-examined with regard to the distance between his village and other villages which he has referred to in his deposition. The witness has been cross- examined as regards the facts stated by him regarding the quality, fertility, etc. of the lands of village Nana Machiyala, which came to be acquired for the Chittal-Amreli By-pass road.
18. Shri Manandbhai Danabhai, resident of village Nana Machiyala, has been examined at Exhibit 106. This witness has stated that he was the owner of land situated at Survey No.96/9/paiki of village Giriya which came to be acquired for the Thebi Irrigation Project. Not being satisfied by the award passed by the Deputy Collector, Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation (Irrigation), Rajkot, they had made reference applications, which came to be numbered as Land Reference Case No.92 of 1997, etc. The reference applications came to be decided by the Reference Court, which determined the market value at Rs.300/- and Rs.400/- per square metre. The Page 39 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT witness has deposed that village Mangvapal, Nana Bhandariya, Venivadar and Amarpur (Varudi) are situated at a distance of 2 to 3 kilometres from their village. On river Vadi, which passes from the boundaries of those villages, a dam has been constructed under the Vadi Irrigation Project, which is situated near their village. The distance between the Thebi Irrigation Scheme and the Vadi Irrigation Scheme is about one to one and a half kilometres. The witness has stated that he has seen the lands acquired for Vadi Irrigation Project and that their lands are similar to the lands acquired for the said Project insofar as the yield, value of crops like groundnuts, cotton, sesame, etc. are concerned.
18.1 In his cross-examination, the witness has stated that the distance between Giriya and Amreli is about 3 kilometres and that the distance between Amreli and Mangvapal is also 3 kilometres. Mangvapal is at a distance of about one kilometre from Vadi Dam. The distance between Mangvapal and Nana Bhandariya is about 2 kilometres. The distance between Venivadar and Mota Ankadiya is about 2 kilometres and the distance between Mangvapal to Amarpur (Varudi) is approximately 2 kilometres.
18.2 In his cross-examination, the witness has denied that his land, which has been acquired for the purpose of the Thebi Irrigation Scheme, is situated at a distance of 8 to 10 kilometres from Nana Bhandariya, Mangvapal, Amarpur (Varudi) and Venivadar from where the lands have been acquired. The witness has deposed that in the land reference cases relating to acquisition of his lands, he has not deposed before the Reference Court.
Page 40 of 89C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT 19. On behalf of the respondents, one Shri Keyur Chandrakant Sampat, the then Deputy Collector, Land
Acquisition and Rehabilitation (Irrigation), Junagadh, has been examined at Exhibit 78. This witness has deposed regarding nine sale deeds on which he has based his award. As per his deposition, after determining the market value of jirayat (non- irrigated) lands, he had added 25% to the same for the purpose of determining the market value of bagayat land. The witness has referred to the nine sale deeds in detail and has also produced such sale deeds on record before the Reference Court. The details whereof as deposed by him are as follows:
(1) Sale deed No.477 dated 11.03.1991 of Survey No.117 of village Mota Ankadiya in respect of land admeasuring hectares 2-37-35 square metres of jirayat land, which has been sold for Rs.15,000/-. Accordingly, the price of the land comes to Rs.63.09/- per are. The witness has further deposed that as the market value of the property in the sale deed was on the lower side, the registering officer had referred the documents for determination of the market value under section 32A of the Bombay Stamp Act, 1958 to the Collector, who had determined the market value at Rs.16,428/-. Accordingly, the market value of the land comes to Rs.69.90 per are.
(2) Sale deed No.1010 dated 03.06.1994 of Survey No.181/4 of Village Nana Bhandariya in respect of the land admeasuring hectares 1-35-57 square metres of jirayat land. The sale price is Rs.30,000/- and accordingly the price of the land comes to Rs.221.28/- per are. Since the value of the land appeared to be lower than the market price, the registering officer had Page 41 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT referred the documents for determination of the market value under section 32A of the Bombay Stamp Act, 1958 to the Collector, who had determined the market value at Rs.67,200/-. Accordingly, the market value of the land comes to Rs.495.68/- per are.
(3) Sale deed No.417 dated 09.03.1994 of Village Pipalag bearing Survey No.68 and 69/p, admeasuring hectares 1-00-17 square metres and hectares 0-61-71 square metres respectively, both being jirayat lands. The sale price of the land comes to Rs.15,000/-. According to which, the price of the land comes to Rs.92.66/- per are. Once again the document is referred to the Collector for determining the market value and he has determined the market value at the rate of Rs.40,500/-
and accordingly the market value of the land comes to Rs.250.18/- per are.
(4) Sale deed No.1131 dated 23.06.1994 of land bearing Survey No.59 part of Village Mangvapal, admeasuring hectares 0-80-94 square metres, being jirayat land. The sale price is Rs.40,000/-. The price of the lands therefore, comes to Rs.494.19 per are.
(5) Sale deed No.175 dated 27.01.1995 of land bearing Survey No.224/1/p Village Mota Ankadiya admeasuring hectares 1-51-76 square metres, being jirayat land. The sale price is Rs.10,000/-. Thus, the price of the land comes to Rs.65.89 per Are. The registering officer had referred the documents for determination of the market value under section 32A of the Bombay Stamp Act, 1958 to the Collector, who had determined the market value at Rs.81,100/-. Thus, Page 42 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT the market value of the land would come to Rs.538.39 per are.
(6) Sale deed No.1778 dated 25.10.1993 of land bearing Survey No.125 of Village Nana Bhandariya, admeasuring hectares 4-68-53 square metres, which is bagayat in nature. The sale price is Rs.1,45,000/-. Accordingly, the market price of the land comes to Rs.309.47 per are. The said document has been referred by the registering authority to the Collector under section 32A of the Bombay Stamp Act, who has assessed the market value at Rs.4,63,900/-. Thus, the market value of the land comes to Rs.990.11 per are.
(7) Sale deed No.174 dated 27.01.1995 of land bearing Survey No.224/1/B/p of village Mota Ankadia admeasuring hectares 1-54-79 square metres, being jirayat in nature. The sale price is Rs.10,500/-. Thus, the price of the land is Rs.67.83 per are. The document had been referred by the registering officer determination of the market value under section 32A of the Bombay Stamp Act, 1958 to the Collector, who had determined the market value at Rs.82,700/-. Thus, the market value of the said land comes to Rs.534.27 per Are.
(8) Sale deed No.2187 dated 25.09.1995 of land bearing Survey No.224/2 of village Mota Ankadiya admeasuring hectares 2-97-45 square metres, being jirayat in nature. The sale price is Rs.1,45,070/-. Thus, the price of the land comes to Rs.484.35 per are. The document had been referred by the registering officer for determination of the market value under section 32A of the Bombay Stamp Act, 1958 to the Collector, who had determined the market value at Rs.1,65,000/-. Accordingly, the market value comes to Rs.555.38 per are.
Page 43 of 89C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT (9) Sale deed No.2188 dated 25.09.1995 of land bearing survey No.224/2of village Mota Ankadiya of land admeasuring hectares 2-7-13 square metres, being jirayat land. The sale price is Rs.1.30,830/- and the price of the land comes to Rs.484.30 per are. The registering officer had referred the document for determination of the market value under section 32A of the Bombay Stamp Act, 1958 to the Collector, who had determined the market value at Rs.1,50,100/-. Accordingly, the market value comes to Rs.555.65 per Are.
20. The witness has deposed that the sale deeds at Serial No.1, 5 and 7 are in respect of the acquired lands. Upon taking into consideration the market value assessed after the matter was referred under section 32A of the Bombay Stamp Act, the average value comes to Rs.429.60/- per are, whereas in terms of the award Rs.700/- per are has been awarded for jirayat land and computing the value of bagayat land at 25% higher than that, the average price would come to Rs.537/-, whereas in terms of the award the market value has been assessed at Rs.1,050/- per are. He has further deposed that the lands in respect of which the sale deeds at Serial No.1, 5 and 7 have been executed are similar to the acquired lands and are of villages of the same area.
21. In his cross-examination, the witness has admitted that the acquiring body has not produced any evidence as regards the market value of the lands. The witness has admitted that in the award, he has not referred to the sales of lands near the acquired lands in detail. He has further admitted that he has not personally seen the lands in respect of which the sale Page 44 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT deeds have been submitted before the court. He has admitted that he has no knowledge as regards the nature of the lands which were subject matter of the sale deeds and under what circumstances the same were sold. He has admitted that he has not called the parties to the sale deeds by issuing notices to them nor he has recorded their statements. He has also admitted that the documents which he has submitted along with his evidence were not available with him at the time when he made the award. He has stated that he has not got any soil testing carried out of the lands which were subject matter of the sale deeds as well as of the acquired lands.
22. One Mukeshbhai Khimjibhai Chauhan, who was discharging duties in the Roads and Buildings Department, Gujarat State at Amreli, has been examined on behalf of the acquiring body. The witness has deposed that he is acquainted with the roads under the Road & Buildings Department, in Amreli District. He has further deposed that there is a State Highway which goes from Amreli towards Mota Ankadiya. Similarly, there is State Highway from Chittal to Amreli town. If one wants to go from Chittal to Amreli through the State Highway, then one has to go via Nana Machiyala. The distance from Nana Machiyala to the Circuit House at Amreli through the State Highway is 5.2 kilometres. Pipalag village is located on the road under the Panchayat Roads and Buildings Department. From Amreli Circuit House, if one goes at a distance of 2.5 kilometres on the State Highway, thereafter there is a district panchayat road for going towards village Pipalag. Venivadar is also situated on the panchayat road. Mota Ankadiya village is situated on the State Highway. Mota Ankadiya is situated at a distance of 11 kilometres from Amreli Page 45 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT through the State Highway. To reach to Nana Bhandariya village one has to cross 6.2 kilometres on the Amreli-Kunkavav Highway and then take the panchayat road. The witness has produced a map on the roads under the State as well as the panchayat road, which has been exhibited as Exhibit 80. The learned advocate for the claimants has raised an objection to admitting the map in the evidence, which has been turned down by the Reference Court.
23. In his cross-examination, the witness has stated that he has been working as an Assistant Engineer in the Roads and Buildings Department in Amreli since the last ten years. The witness has basically been cross-examined with regard to his knowledge of the rural roads.
24. Thus, in the four groups of appeals relating to villages Nana Bhandariya, Mota Ankadiya and Amarpur (Varudi), wherein the section 4 notifications of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 have been issued on 11.04.1996, 16.06.1996 and 01.02.1996, the evidence recorded is more or less identical. Insofar as the claimants are concerned, one of the claimants out of which has deposed on behalf of the claimants of that group and the testimonies of the claimants in each group of cases in case of all the four villages are more or less identically worded. The other two witnesses examined on behalf of the claimants are common in each case viz. Shri Dhirubhai Manjibhai and Shri Manandbhai Danabhai, whereas on behalf of the respondents, same two witnesses viz. Keyur Chandrakant Sampat and Mukeshbhai Khimjibhai Chauhan have been examined in each of the group of the reference cases. Thus, the evidence in all the cases is common despite Page 46 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT the fact that the villages are situated at different distances from Amreli city. Insofar as the quality of lands, fertility, yield and facilities available in each village is concerned, the evidence is identical and there is no cross-examination as regards these facts, except that the witness has admitted in each that he has not produced any documentary evidence in support of his case that such facility is available in their village.
25. A perusal of the award made by the Land Acquisition Officer shows that he has stated that Nana Bhandariya is situated at a distance of 7 kms from Amreli and that the claimants are progressive farmers. There is no other industry or development in the village. Neither the claimants nor the acquiring body have produced any evidence in support of their claim. He has further mentioned that statement of sales of five years is enclosed. The valuation of the agricultural lands and non-agricultural lands of villages from which lands have been acquired in this project namely Piplag, Mota Ankadiya, Amrapur (Varudi), Venivadar, Nana Bhandariya and Mangvapal has been sanctioned by the State Government vide letter dated 13.1.1998 whereby Rs.700/- per are has been approved for jirayat land and Rs.1050/- per are has been approved for bagayat land and Rs.25/- per square metre for non-agricultural land. In the past no land of these villages has been acquired for the purpose of this irrigation project and hence, there is no question of discussing any award.
26. As regards the market value of the land, the Land Acquisition Officer has stated that the notification under section 4 has been issued on 15.4.1996 and the market value as on that date is required to be taken into consideration. He Page 47 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT has further observed that the market value of the land is required to be determined by considering the sale deeds, but thereafter there has been a tremendous increase in the yield of agricultural products and the value of the land is increasing day by day, which factor is required to be kept in mind. He has thereafter stated that he is determining the value of the acquired lands at Rs.1050/- per are for bagayat land and Rs.700/- per are for jirayat land.
27. Thus, in the award the Land Acquisition Officer has not mentioned any details regarding the sale instances relied upon but has merely referred to the valuation approved by the Government and has determined the market value accordingly. On a reading of the award in its entirety there is nothing to show as to on what basis the Land Acquisition Officer has determined the market value. A statement of sale instances is annexed along with the award which indicates four sale instances of village Nana Bhandariya for the period from September 1990 to September 1995. A perusal of such statement reveals that the sale deeds are dated 14.2.91, 25.12.92, 1.9.93 and 3.6.94 and that such lands are situated at a distance of 4 kilometres, 2.5 kilometres, 2.5 kilometes and 1.5 kilometres from the acquired lands. Out of the above four sale deeds, only one sale deed being No.1010 dated 3.6.1994 has been produced on record by way of evidence.
28. The Land Acquisition Officer, in his testimony, has deposed that the documents at serial No.1, 5 and 7 are of acquired lands and that considering the value of the lands as determined in the proceedings under section 32 A of the Bombay Stamp Act, the average market value would come to Page 48 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT Rs.429.60 per are and as per the award Rs.700/- per are has been sanctioned for jirayat land and for bagayat land considering 25% more, Rs.1050 has been sanctioned. Such lands are of the same nature as the acquired lands and are of villages of the same area.
28.1 In his cross-examination it has come out the he has made all the awards as Land Acquisition Officer. He has admitted that he has not described the lands of the surrounding areas in detail in the award. He has admitted that he has not seen the lands which were subject matter of the sale deeds. He is not aware of the nature of such lands nor is he aware of the circumstances in which the same came to be sold. He did not have copies of the sale deeds when he made the award.
29. At this juncture, reference may be made to the decision of the Supreme Court in Lal Chand v. Union of India, wherein it has been held thus:
"74. There would be lesser likelihood of rejection of a sale deed exhibited to prove the market value, if some witness speaks about the property which is the subject- matter of the exemplar sale deed and explains its situation, potential, as also about the similarities or dissimilarities with the acquired land. The distance between the two properties, the nature and situation of the property, proximity to the village or a road and several other factors may all be relevant in determining the market value.Page 49 of 89
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75. Mere production of some exemplar deeds without "connecting" the subject-matter of the instrument, to the acquired lands will be of little assistance in determining the market value. Section 51-A of the LA Act only exempts the production of the original sale deed and examination of the vendor or vendee."
30. Examining the facts of the present case in the light of the above decision, there is no material on record to connect the sale deeds produced by way of evidence during the course of the proceedings before the Reference Court with the said sale instances. Insofar as the sale instances produced by the respondents before the Reference Court are concerned, no evidence has been led to show that they are comparable lands. While the acquisition relates to different villages, out of the nine sale instances, five sale instances are of village Mota Ankadiya, one of the year 1991 and four of the year 1995. Out of these sale instances, it is the case of the Land Acquisition Officer that three sale deeds are referable to the acquired lands. Out of the remaining sale deeds, two are of village Nana Bhandariya, one dated 3.6.1994 and another dated 25.10.1993. One sale deed is of village Mangvapal dated 23.6.1996 and one of village Piplag dated 9.3.1994. The Land Acquisition Officer, in his cross-examination, has admitted that he has not seen the lands in respect of which the sale deeds had been executed.
31. Two groups of appeals are comprised of those cases, wherein the lands of village Mangvapal came to be acquired.
32. In First Appeal No.229 of 2016 and allied matters which Page 50 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT arise out of the Land Reference Cases No.111/1999 to 133/1999, the lands came to be acquired for the same project, viz., Vadi Irrigation Project. The notification under section 4 of the Act came to be published in the Government Gazette on 1.2.1996 and the declaration under section 6 of the Act came to be published on 19.3.1996. The Land Acquisition Officer made a common award dated 14.5.1998 under section 11 of the Act determining the market price at Rs.1,050/- per are for bagayat land and Rs.700/- per are for jirayat land. Being dissatisfied with the award, the appellants filed references under section 18 of the Act claiming compensation at the rate of Rs.400/- per square metre for their lands as well as ancillary statutory benefits. Land Reference Case No.111/1999 (Main) was decided on 30.4.2015 by the learned Principal Senior Civil Judge, Amreli.
33. Before the trial court, on behalf of the claimants, four witnesses came to be examined, viz., (1) Shri Zaverbhai Ladhabhai, at Exhibit 20, (2) Shri Manandbhai Danabhai, at Exhibit 57, (3) Shri Govindbhai Ranabhai, at Exhibit 97 and (4) Shri Mukeshbhai Kalubhai Korat, at Exhibit 98. The claimants produced as many as fifty-three documents by way of documentary evidence in support of their claim.
34. Shri Zaverbhai Ladhabhai, who has been examined at Exhibit 20, has deposed that he has seen all the lands under acquisition; they are situated near village Mangvapal adjoining the outskirts. All the lands are similar, levelled and are equally fertile and give valuable yield. He has deposed that they had demanded compensation at the rate of Rs.400/- per square metre and all the lands have the facility of irrigation and bore Page 51 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT well and are very fertile. They grow groundnut, millet, cotton, maize, barley, wheat, rajko, etc., in one year and earn about Rs.1,20,000/- per annum from each vigha, out of which half of the amount goes towards expenditure and the balance is clear profit. They have the facility of tar roads, electricity, water in their village as well as hospital, school, milk society, telephone, bus and railways. Amreli and Nana Machiyala are situated at a distance of three to four kilometres from their village and at present, the area near Amreli and Nana Machiyala is developing and their village is situated in the developing area and is developing day by day. The lands of village Nana Machiyala had been acquired for the public purpose of Chital Amreli Bypass Road wherein the High Court had upheld the award passed by the Reference Court awarding Rs.240/- per square metre and the Supreme Court had also affirmed the said decision. The acquired lands are situated on the Amreli Jetpur State Highway and the lands of village Mangvapal situated near the acquired lands are being used for ginning mill, milk dairy and plastic factory, etc. Mangvapal village is at a distance of only four kilometres from Amreli District Head Quarters and the lands in question have been included in the periphery area in the notification issued by the District Development Officer, due to which, there is a possibility of the lands of Mangvapal being merged in Amreli town in the future. About nine hundred acres of land of Mangvapal has been reserved by the Government for industrial purposes. Moreover, a huge educational campus of the State Government, as well as a 66 KV Sub Station of the Gujarat Electricity Board, has been established for the purpose of industrial development. The lands of Mangvapal being situated in developing areas are valuable lands.
Page 52 of 89C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT 34.1 The witness has further deposed that the acquired
lands of their village and the lands acquired from village Nana Machiyala, are lands having similar fertility and giving similar yield. The lands under acquisition are situated near the lands of village Nana Machiyala, which came to be acquired and the boundaries of both the villages are near and both the villages are developing villages. The witness has produced various documents on record through his deposition.
34.2 In the cross-examination of the witness, it has come out that the occupation of the people of Mangvapal is agriculture and the population of the village is 2200. He has admitted that there is no railway station in the village. He has admitted that there is no bus-stand or Government Hospital in the village He has admitted that they were given an opportunity of hearing by the Land Acquisition Officer and that they had not produced any evidence before him. He has stated that at that time, sale deeds may have been produced and but he does not desire to produce any sale deed. He has further stated that the distance between Amreli and Mangvapal is four kilometres. The distance between Mangvapal and Machiyala is three kilometres. Machiyala is situated on Amreli Babra road and his village is not situated on that road. His village is situated towards the west of Machiyala. He has stated that when he refers to Machiyala, he means Nana Machiyala. Nana Machiyala is situated on the main road, whereas his village is situated at a distance of one to one-half kilometres from Kunkavav main road. The acquired lands are situated towards the north of their village towards Ankadiya village. He has admitted that the acquired lands are situated at a distance of Page 53 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT one kilometre from their village and that the lands are agricultural lands. He has further stated that there is no factory or residential land near the acquired lands. He has admitted that yield of rajko cannot be obtained more than once in a year; cotton is sown in the monsoon and is harvested at Holi; groundnut crop is ready at Diwali; millet, barley and maize are sown in the monsoon and harvested at Diwali. He has thereafter been cross-examined regarding the price of the crops. He has given details about the crops cultivated by him and the yield as well as the expenses.
35. On behalf of the claimants, witness Manabhai Danabhai, has been examined at Exhibit 57. The testimony of this witness is more or less identical to his testimony as recorded in the case of other villages which has been referred to hereinabove.
36. One Govindbhai Ranabhai Ramani has been examined at Exhibit 97. This witness has deposed that he had purchased agricultural lands admeasuring 12 gunthas and 3 gunthas, in all, 15 gunthas, of revenue survey No.125/21 of Mouje Taluka District Amreli for a sum of Rs.1,68,465/- by a sale deed dated 2.5.1995 bearing No.935/95 from Shri Savjibhai Madhabhai Ramabhai. The witness has produced a copy of the sale deed on the record and has stated that the lands in respect of which the sale deed has been executed are situated outside the municipal limits of Amreli and that the lands which he has purchased are at a distance of two to three kilometres from Amreli and that the lands of Mangvapal which have been acquired for the purpose of Vadi Irrigation Project are situated at an equal distance. He has further deposed that he had seen the acquired lands and that they are similar to the lands which Page 54 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT he has purchased and are also similar in fertility. The lands purchased by him and the lands of village Mangvapal give similar valuable yield and the lands which he has purchased and the lands of Mangvapal which have been acquired are both situated at an equal distance from Amreli.
37. One Mukeshbhai Kalubhai Korat has also been examined on behalf of the claimants. This witness has deposed that his lands came to be acquired for the purpose of Thebi Irrigation Scheme. In respect of his lands, the court has determined the market value at the rate of Rs.160/- per square metre which has been confirmed till the Supreme Court. He has deposed that at a distance of about two to three kilometres from the lands acquired for the Thebi Irrigation Project, the lands acquired for the Vadi Irrigation Project are situated. A dam has been constructed under the Vadi Irrigation Project on the Vadi River which passes through the boundary of Mangvalpal village, which is near his village. He has deposed that dam constructed the Thebi Irrigation Project in the limits of their town Amreli is near the dam constructed under the Vadi Irrigation Project. He has deposed that he has seen the lands of village Mangvapal which have been acquired. He has further deposed that the acquired lands are similar in nature, of equal fertility, yielding valuable crops like groundnut, cotton, etc. There is a lot of development on the road going from Amreli to Mangvapal and that Amreli and Mangvapal have a common boundary. The witness has produced a copy of the award passed by the Reference Court in Land Acquisition Reference Case No.182 of 1993 on the application made by him for enhancement of compensation for his lands which had been acquired.
Page 55 of 89C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT
38. On behalf of the State, one Yashvinikumar Dayashankar Srivastav has been examined at Exhibit 112. This witness has deposed with regard to the issuance of the notification under section 4 of the Act as well as other proceedings carried out leading to the making of the award. He has further deposed that the sale deed bearing No.1131 dated 23.6.1994 of Survey No.59 paiki of village Mangvapal has been produced by him for the purpose of determining the market value. The land is Jirayat in nature. The sale deed is in respect of the land admeasuring hectares 0-80-94 square metres and the sale price is Rs.40,000/-. Accordingly, the price of the land comes to Rs.494.19 per are. He has deposed that in terms of the award, the market value of the land has been determined at Rs.700/- per are for jirayat land and Rs.1,050/- per are for bagayat land. He has further deposed that the amount claimed by the claimants by way of market value is very excessive and that the market value of such land was never so high. He has stated that the compensation awarded to the claimants is in terms of the market value and is just and proper.
38.1 In the cross-examination of this witness, it has come out that he is discharging duties as a Deputy Collector, Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation from 7.3.2014. Earlier, he was discharging duties as a Prant Officer at Vanthali. He has admitted that from the time the notification under section 4 of the Act came to be issued till the award came to be made, he has not participated in any of the proceedings. He has admitted that he had not seen the acquired lands either at the relevant time or even at present. He has admitted that he has no knowledge about the development of the acquired lands Page 56 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT and the pattern of crops cultivated thereon. He has admitted that all the facts stated by him in his deposition are based on the record and that he has no personal knowledge about the same. The witness has admitted that he has not seen the lands in respect of which the sale deed has been produced and that he does not know the buyer or seller of the land.
39. A perusal of the award passed by the Reference Court reveals that it has discarded the evidence adduced by the claimants on the ground that the documentary evidence has not been duly proved in terms of the provisions of the Evidence Act. The Reference Court has thereafter proceeded to place reliance upon the contents of the award on the ground that the award has been exhibited and duly proved despite the fact that the author of the award had not been examined and the witness Yashvinikumar Dayashankar Srivastava had admitted that he has deposed on the basis of the record and has no personal knowledge about the land acquisition proceedings. Ignoring the decision of the Supreme Court in Chimanlal Hargovindas (supra) which finds reference in the impugned judgment and award, the Reference Court has opined that the opponent has proved the award and the map by adducing evidence and that it was open to the court to take resort to both the documents while determining the prevailing market price. Thus, though the sale deeds on the basis of which the award had been made had neither been produced nor proved, the Reference Court has sought to place reliance on the contents of the award. Moreover, after observing that the court can take resort to the award and the map for determining the market price, the Reference Court has thereafter taken note of the fact that for the adjacent village Page 57 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT Amrapur (Varudi), the market value in respect of lands acquired for the same project has been determined in Land Reference Cases No.41/2000 to 51/2000 and for the adjacent village Nana Bhandariya, the market value had been determined in Land Reference Cases No.56/1999 to 65/1999 and No.176/1999, wherein the market value of jirayat land had been determined at Rs.20/- per square metre and for bagayat land, at Rs.30/- per square metre, against which the appeals were pending before the High Court and has proceeded to determine the market value of the lands in question at Rs.30/- per square metre for bagayat land and Rs.20/- per square metre for jirayat land. It may be noted that while coming to such conclusion, the Reference Court has not given any finding with regard to the similarity in the lands which were subject matter of the previous awards and the lands which were subject matter of this award, nor has it discussed the distance between those villages. Thus, though, in the impugned judgment and award the evidence adduced by the respective parties has been reproduced and referred to at length, the ultimate conclusion is based upon the awards passed in the case of adjacent villages of Amarpur and Nana Bhandariya.
40. The other group of appeals arising out of land reference cases in respect of lands of village Mangvapal came to be acquired for the project in question is First Appeals No.1546 of 2018 to 1550 of 2018. Vide order dated 28.6.2018, such appeals came to be admitted and were ordered to be heard with First Appeal No.229 of 2016 and other connected appeals and that is how, these appeals were heard together.
41. The facts of these cases are that the notification under Page 58 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT section 4 of the Act came to be published in the Government Gazette on 19.1.2004, declaration under section 6 of the Act came to be published on 27.1.2005 and the award under section 11 of the Act came to be made on 6.10.2005 determining the compensation at the rate of Rs.150/- per are for bagayat land and Rs.700/- per are for jirayat land. Before the Reference Court, on behalf of the claimants, one Becharbhai Gokalbhai Kachadiya has been examined at Exhibit
13. The witness has deposed that their lands are very fertile and are agricultural lands giving similar yields. All lands have irrigation and bore well facility and agriculture is carried out through irrigation and in one year, they are obtaining two to three crops of groundnut, millet, cotton, maize, barley, wheat, rajko, etc. At the time when the notification under section 4 of the Act came to be published, they were obtaining yield of Rs.80,000/- per vigha per annum, out of which half the amount went towards expenditure and the balance was clear profit. He has deposed that their village has facility of tar roads, electricity and water supply as well as hospital, school, milk society, telephone, bus and railway. Their village is at a distance of three to four kilometres from Amreli, Nana Machiyala and Giriya, and at present, the areas near Amreli, Nana Machiyala and Giriya are developing a lot and their village also falls within such developing area.
41.1 The witness has further deposed that village Nana Machiyala is situated at a distance of three kilometres from their village and that the lands of Nana Machiyala were acquired for the purpose of Chital Amreli Bypass Road. Against the award passed by the Land Acquisition Officer, the claimants had approached the Reference Court, which had Page 59 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT determined the market value at the rate of Rs.240/- per square metre, which had been upheld by the High Court in the first appeal filed by the State Government and the Supreme Court had also upheld the said order. He has also deposed that the lands of village Giriya situated near their village had been acquired for the Thebi Irrigation Scheme, wherein the Reference Court had awarded Rs.300/- per square metre, against which the State Government had filed first appeal before the High Court, where the compensation was reduced to Rs.150/- per square metre. The witness has further deposed that the lands which are acquired for the Vadi Irrigation Project situated in Amreli, Mangvapal and other villages are situated on the Amreli Jetpur State Highway. Near the acquired lands of village Mangvapal, there are industries like Ginning Mill, Milk Dairy, and Plastic Factory, etc. The lands of Amreli and Mangvapal which are acquired for the Vadi Irrigation Project, are situated at a distance of only three to four kilometres from Amreli District Headquarters and town, and certain lands out of the acquired lands of village Mangvapal, approximately 900 acres, have been reserved for industrial purpose in the year 1972 and a huge educational campus of the State Government as well as 66 KV Station of the G.E.B. has been set up for development of industries. Thus, the acquired lands being situated in the developing areas are highly valuable. The witness has also deposed that their lands acquired for the Vadi Irrigation Project and the acquired lands of village Nana Machiyala and Giriya are similar in fertility and are of a similar type and give valuable yield and the acquired lands are situated in the surrounding area within a distance of three kilometres thereof. The acquired lands are situated on the boundaries of Nana Machiyala and Giriya and are near the Page 60 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT developing area of Amreli. The acquired lands and the boundaries of both the villages are near each other and both the villages are developed villages.
41.2 The witness has been cross-examined regarding the award and the matters pending in the High Court against the other awards. However, there is no cross-examination as regards the facts deposed by the witness regarding proximity to village Giriya, Nana Machiyala and Amreli and as regards the lands being similar in fertility, yield as well as the facilities available in the village. By way of documentary evidence, the witness has produced four judgments on record.
42. On behalf of the respondents, one Shri Pravinbhai Ambabhai Govani has been examined at Exhibit 26. A perusal of the deposition of this witness, who was a Deputy Executive Engineer, reveals that the same is more in the nature of a written statement dealing with the facts stated by the claimants' witness in his examination-in-chief. Thus, a novel approach has been adopted inasmuch as instead of contradicting the claimants' witness in his cross-examination, the facts deposed by him in his examination-in-chief are sought to be contradicted through the examination-in-chief of the Government witness. A perusal of the examination-in-chief of the witness reveals that as regards the basis for the determination of market value, all that has been stated is that keeping in view the sale deeds of the last five years and considering the nature of the lands as to whether they are irrigated or non-irrigated lands and affording an opportunity of submitting objections to the claimants who did not raise any objections, the market value of the acquired lands was Page 61 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT determined at Rs.700/- per are for jirayat land and Rs.1050/- per are for bagayat land keeping in view the location of the land and the period of acquisition.
42.1 In the entire testimony of the witness, there is not even a whisper as regards the sale deeds on the basis of which the award was made, nor have such sale deeds been produced on record. The respondents had placed reliance upon the award made in Land Reference Case No.111/1999 arising out of the same project and the lands of the same village, viz., Mangvapal. In the cross-examination of this witness, it has been elicited that he has taken charge as Deputy Executive Engineer, Irrigation Sub-Division-2, Amreli, since the last seven to eight months by way of additional charge. He has admitted that he was not holding this post at the time when the lands came to be acquired. He has admitted that he has not seen the acquired lands. He has admitted that the entire process had been carried out by the Deputy Collector and has voluntarily stated that on behalf of the acquiring body, they had furnished the necessary information to the Deputy Collector. He has stated that he had seen Mangvapal village and has denied that Mangvapal is situated near Giriya. He has deposed that the distance between Thebi Dam and Vadi Dam is approximately eight to ten kilometres.
43. The Reference Court, in the impugned award, has referred to this witness as In-charge Deputy Collector and Land Acquisition Officer; however, as a matter of fact, the Land Acquisition Officer has not been examined by the respondents. Thus, the award cannot be said to have been proved, because the Deputy Executive Engineer who has deposed on behalf of Page 62 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT the acquiring body, would have no knowledge about the making of the award. The entire examination-in-chief of this witness, which is in the form of an affidavit, appears to have been drafted by a legal mind and instead of reading like a deposition of a witness based upon his own personal knowledge, appears to be in the nature of a written statement dealing with the facts stated in the deposition of the claimants' witness. The Reference Court, in paragraph 37 of the impugned award, has recorded thus:
"37. Here in this Land Reference group cases, Award which is challenged here in this matter is already exhibited and the claimant's side has not asked any question regarding the description given in the Award. Hence, I am of the opinion that Award is proved by the opponent's side by adducing evidence and under these circumstances, court can take resort to these documents while determining the prevailing market value of the acquired land in the present group land reference cases."
44. While observing thus, the Reference Court has erred on facts, because the Land Acquisition Officer has not been examined by the respondents, under the circumstances, one fails to understand as to how the award can be said to have been proved. The award must have been exhibited as it is an admitted document, but that does not mean that the contents thereof have to be read as gospel truth and relied upon while determining the market value. While determining the market value of the acquired lands, the Reference Court has failed to consider the principles enunciated by the Supreme Court in the Page 63 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT case of Chimanlal Hargovindas which was cited before it and has heavily placed reliance upon the contents of the award made by the Land Acquisition Officer.
45. From the evidence on record as adduced by the parties in the above referred land acquisition cases, it is revealed that no evidence has been produced on behalf of the claimants based upon sale deeds of the lands situated in the vicinity, except in one case, where a sale deed has been produced in relation to village Mangvapal. On behalf of the respondents, in the first group of cases wherein lands of villages Nana Bhandariya, Amarpur (Varudi) and Mota Ankadiya, came to be acquired, the same set of nine sale deeds have been relied upon which have been referred to in detail hereinabove. As discussed earlier, no evidence has been adduced to point out as to how such lands are comparable to the lands under acquisition, nor has the Land Acquisition Officer seen such lands. Moreover, it is an admitted position that the awards which have been made under section 11 of the Act are not based upon such sale deeds. Under the circumstances, from the evidence on record, there is nothing to show that any substantial evidence has been adduced by way of sale instances so as to determine the market value based upon such sale instances. The only option left with the court is, therefore, to rely upon the previous awards made in the case of the lands situated in the nearby areas.
46. On behalf of the appellants-claimants, strong reliance has been placed upon the award made by the Reference Court in the case of village Nana Machiyala where the lands were acquired for the purpose of Chital Amreli Bypass Road, wherein Page 64 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT the Reference Court had awarded Rs.240/- per square metre. In the facts of the said case, the notification under section 4 of the Act came to be published on 8.2.1996; the Land Acquisition Officer made the award under section 11 of the Act on 27.3.1997. Being dissatisfied with the award, those claimants made applications under section 18 of the Act claiming compensation at the rate of Rs.400/- per square metre, which were referred to the Reference Court. All the cases were heard together in Land Reference Case No.83/1997 (Main). Before the Reference Court, the claimants only relied upon a previous award in Land Reference Case No.3/1997 (Group), which is confirmed by the High Court in the case of Deputy Collector, Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation, Amreli and another v. Lalubhai Keshavbhai, 1999(3) GLR 2625 in the case of Giriya village. It may be noted that in the above decision the High Court had determined the market value at the rate of Rs.300/- for agricultural lands which were likely to be converted into non-agricultural lands and Rs.400/- for non- agricultural lands, whereas in case of majority of the lands under acquisition, the High Court had determined the market value at Rs.75/- per square metre and in case of some other lands situated in developed part of the town at Rs.160/- for agricultural lands and Rs.240/- for non-agricultural land. Therefore, nowhere in the above decision has the market value of agricultural lands been determined at Rs.300/- per square metre as referred to in the judgment and award passed by the Reference Court. The Reference Court does not appear to have properly read the decision of the High Court and has failed to note this fact and has, therefore, applied an incorrect basis for determining the market value insofar as village Nana Machiyala is concerned and has observed thus:
Page 65 of 89C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT "12. The certified copy of the judgment dt. 28th August, 1998, given by the Assistant Judge, Amreli, in the said Land Reference Case No.3/97 (group), is on record at Exh.19, which was confirmed, by the Hon'ble Gujarat High court, reported in 1999 (3), XL (3), GLR, at page 2625, (case of Dy. Collector v. Lalubhai Keshavbhai) with slight modification, that for an acquired agricultural lands, if it is irrigated, compensation of Rs.400/- per sq. mt., to be paid and for non-irrigated compensation of Rs.300/-, is to be paid. It appears, from the said Judgment, that the references were made for the acquired lands of village Giriya of District Amreli, while the present reference are made for the acquired agricultural lands, of village Nana Machiyala and that for implementing different projects. Thus, in that case, it will be necessary to find out the distance between the acquired agricultural lands of village Giriya and village Nana Machiyala and for that purpose, in absence of other documentary evidence, one has to take the rescue of oral evidence, on record.
xxxxxxx In the said case, before the Hon'ble Supreme court, distance was 4 k.m., while the distance of the said lands acquired of village Baxipur-Giriya and land acquired of village Nana Machiyala (for which the present references, are made) is of 8 k.m., and at the same time, all the said acquired agricultural lands, being non-irrigated (as per the Award Exh.3), reasonable compensation, per mt. can be said of Rs.240/- per sq. mt, and the said enhanced compensation is to be given Page 66 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT to the claimants. Xxx"
47. From the award of the Reference Court, there is nothing to show that any evidence was adduced to show as to how the lands of Nana Machiyala were comparable to the lands in respect of which the market value had been determined at Rs.300/-.
48. It may be pertinent to note that the above judgment and award came to be made on 29.6.2001, at which point of time the appeals against the judgment of the High Court were pending before the Supreme Court being Civil Appeals No.204 of 2000 with Nos.213, 214-19, 205-12, 221 to 324, 325-31, 4090-91 of 2000 and 2973-78 of 2001, which came to be decided on 29th July, 2009 in the case of Collector (LA) v. Madhubai Gobarbhai, (2009) 15 SCC 125, wherein the market value determined by the High Court came to be reduced.
49. The above decision of the Reference Court in the case of village Nana Machiyala was challenged before this court by the State in First Appeal No.18 of 2002, however, unfortunately, the above fact regarding market value of Rs.300/- having been determined in respect of lands situated within the very developed area and being lands which were likely to be converted into non-agricultural lands and not in respect of other agricultural lands as well as the fact that against the judgment of the High Court in the case relied upon, the civil appeals were pending before the Supreme Court, does not appear to have been brought to the notice of the High Court, which appears to have summarily dismissed the appeal vide Page 67 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT judgment and order dated 28.1.2002. The High Court held thus:
"From the judgment of the learned Judge, it appears that the references were made for the acquired lands of village Giriya of District Amreli, whereas the reference court awarded compensation of Rs.400/- per sq. mtr. for irrigated land and Rs.300/- for non-irrigated land. In the present reference, the lands which were acquired are of village Nana Machiyala for implementing different projects, therefore, it was necessary to find out distance between the acquired agricultural lands of village Giriya and village Nana Machiyala. Admittedly, there was no documentary evidence in this case regarding distance between the village Giriya and village Nana Machiyala, therefore, the oral evidence was required to be taken into consideration. From the oral evidence on record, the learned Judge came to the conclusion that the distance between the two lands of village Giriya and village Nana Machiyala could be said to be 8 kms. There is no contrary evidence to this led by the appellants to show that the distance was much than what has been held by the learned Judge in his impugned award. Once the learned Judge has relied upon the judgment of the reference court Ex.19 which was delivered on 28.8.1998 and confirmed by this court later on in 1999, then in our considered opinion, it cannot be said that the learned Judge was anyway in wrong in awarding the compensation of Rs.240/- per sq. mtr. for the lands acquired of the claimants. Admittedly, all the lands acquired of the present claimants were irrigated lands.Page 68 of 89
C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT Therefore, considering the distance of 8 kms, it cannot be said that the learned Judge has awarded more amount of Rs.240/- per sq. mtr. The impugned order passed by the learned Judge is just and proper, which does not call for the interference of this court in these appeals."
50. The SLP against the judgment of the High Court also came to be dismissed vide order dated 21.4.2003 after condoning the delay. It is not clear as to whether the fact regarding the pendency of the above referred civil appeals was brought to the notice of the Supreme Court at the relevant time.
51. As noted hereinabove, the Reference Court has proceeded on an incorrect basis while determining the market value at Rs.240/- per square metre for village Nana Machiyala. In the opinion of this court, the said decision, therefore, cannot be made the basis for determining the market value of the lands in question. However, as discussed earlier, the decision of the High Court in the case of Deputy Collector, Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation, Amreli v. Lalubhai Keshavbhai (supra) was subject matter of challenge before the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court in the case of Collector (LA) v. Madhubai Gobarbhai (supra) fixed different market values for the lands which were acquired for the public purpose of the Thebi Irrigation Scheme on the basis of the geographical location of the lands and other relevant factors. The Supreme Court divided the lands into three groups categorised as Group I, Group II and Group III.
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52. The learned counsel for the appellants have submitted that the market value as adopted for agricultural lands in Group II should be made the basis for determining the market value of the lands in question.
53. In this regard, it may be germane to refer to the relevant part of the decision of the Supreme Court in Collector (LA) v. Madhubai Gobarbhai (supra), wherein the lands falling under Group II have been described, which reads thus:
"62. In regard to geographical situation of the lands and whether the lands are in developed area or in the vicinity of the developed area, the High Court opined:-
"13.15 We have considered the entire evidence in this case in its entirety and have also gone through the analysis of the evidence, as has been made by the Reference Court. It is clearly borne out that the lands acquired in these cases are of S. No. 91 (in Land Reference Case Nos. 82/95, 83/95 and 84/95), S. No. 89 (in Land Reference Cases Nos.85/95, 86/95 and 87/95) and S. No. 90/1 (in Land Reference Case No. 1/96).
So far as the geographical situation of these lands and as to whether these lands are in developed area or in the vicinity of the developed area is concerned, we find that the evidence, which has come from both the sides, is not at much variance inasmuch as the 39 lands are on the eastern or western side of the Amreli-Rajkot Highway and also as per the Map Exh. 39. The lands of various S. Nos. , to which the reference has been made herein-above, are all situated in a developed area and the same are around the acquired land. If the lands of various S. Nos. around the acquired land are developed, there is no reason to say that the acquired lands are not comparable with the lands of various S. Nos. such as S. Nos. 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 49, 50, 51 and 56.
The situation of 'Surya Garden Hotel' in S. No. 39 and the existence of godowns for Scoters and residential Page 70 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT premises between the acquired lands of the claimants and the 'Surya Garden Hotel' is also established. Similarly the situation of the Cement Factory between the lands of S. Nos. 39 and 91 is also made out. The deposition with regard to the municipality pavilion, land of Aerodrome, houses etc. on the eastern side of the road along with residential houses also cannot be disbelieved.
Thus in absence of any effective and specific cross- examination with regard to the development of the area in question, it cannot be disbelieved that the lands around the acquired lands are developed area. In the judgment itself at page 20 the Reference Court has recorded as under:-
"There is no cross-examination with respect to the development of area and therefore there is nothing to disbelieve the say of the witness that the area nearby acquired lands are not developed."
It appears that the word "not" before the word 'developed" is a mistake typographical or otherwise and on that basis no argument could be built up to say that the lands nearby the acquired lands are not developed.
13.16 The depositions with regard to the acquired lands that it has wells, pacca houses and the trees, the details of which have been mentioned hereinabove, has remained untrammeled in the cross-examination of P.W.No. 1. All these details do add to the quality of the acquired land for the purpose of fixing the rate at which the compensation is to be given. The case that lands of S. No. 89, which have been acquired, are non agricultural lands and the acquired lands of S. Nos. 90/1 and 91 are likely to be converted as non agricultural land has also remained intact. Even D.W. No. 1, who has been claimed as a star witness on behalf of the Department by the appellants, has admitted that lands of S. Nos. 90/1 and 91 are likely to be converted into non agricultural lands.
The lands of both these S. Nos. 90 and 90/1 are also surrounded by non agricultural lands and are in posh locality near Amreli township. Even if a land is not a non Page 71 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT agricultural land, if the same is surrounded by non agricultural lands and the same is likely to be converted into non agricultural land as per the say of the Land Acquisition Officer himself, it is certainly an important and relevant factor for the purpose of fixing the rate at which the compensation is to be awarded at par or with close proximity with the rate in respect of non agricultural land.
DW-2, who was examined by the Department, has also admitted that going further towards Amreli town, there are godowns, show room of Bajaj Scooter, Jalaram Commercial Complex, Meghnath commercial Centre, and Surya Garden Hotel etc. He has also admitted that area around this land are most developed and posh area of Amreli City and further that the lands of S. Nos. 90 and 91 are situated near the above S. No.43.
DW-3, who was examined at Exh. 73 by the Department, had sold out the land bearing S. No. 35 - a part of Village Giriya on 2.10.90 to one Vithalbhai Bhanjibhai. This witness in the cross- examination has admitted that lands of S. No. 89, 90 and 91 of the claimants are situated near Amreli-Rajkot road and that it is surrounded by the residential houses, godowns etc. This witness has also stated that it is adjacent to posh area and this area is a developed one."
"68.We may notice that a portion of land bearing Survey No. 89 was converted into non- agricultural use and the sale transaction of a portion thereof would show that 1000 sq. mtr. of land were purchased for Rs.18,000/- by a deed of sale executed on 2.8.1988 in terms whereof the value of the land came to Rs.18/- per sq. mtr. We will advert to the question as to whether the same ought not to be relied upon as the land under the said deed of sale not only was converted into non- agricultural land but even developed as well and all other activities were being carried out by dividing the same into plot a little later.
69. It is admitted that subsequently an agreement of Page 72 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT sale was entered into in respect of those plots of land wherefor the market value was fixed at Rs.300/- per sq. mtr. It, however, appears that no agreement for sale was produced before the Reference Court. It was urged that the said purported agreement for sale would not be relevant for Survey Nos. 90/1 and 91 as the same were agricultural lands.
70. We may furthermore place on record the evidence of Deputy Collector, Mr. Mansuri wherein he stated, "Disputed lands are situated at a distance of 4 Kms. away from the residential area of Amreli." According to the said witness he, having considered the four instances of sale which had taken place in village Giriya, had made his award. The Reference Court as also the High Court, however, proceeded on the premise that as the Collector of the District himself determined the market value of Survey No. 39 in terms whereof a sum of Rs.300/- per sq. mtr. by way of premium (which is said to have been reduced at a later stage to Rs.100/- per sq. mtr.) was fixed. Was it wholly irrelevant is the question.
71. A part of Survey No. 89 was non-agricultural in nature but indisputably Survey Nos. 90/1 and 91 were agricultural lands. The value of agricultural lands could not have been compared with the value of non- agricultural lands; only because some witnesses contended that there was a potentiality of the said lands becoming developed.
72. We may, for the purpose of determination of the market value of the lands in question, notice certain sale transactions. By reason of a deed of sale dated 28.7.1988 (Exhibit 48) Survey Nos. 34 and 40/9 (Plot No. 17 & 18) admeasuring an area of 739.21 sq. mtr. was sold for a consideration of Rs.96,000/- at the rate of Rs.129/- per sq. mtr. It is, however, admitted that the land in question consists of residential plots and is a small piece of land within the municipal limit of Amreli city, being situate at a distance of about 1.5 kms. from the acquired land. The deed of sale dated 16.1.1991 (Exhibit 30) shows that 143 sq. mtr. of land in Plot No. Page 73 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT 17 was sold for a sum of Rs.57,200/-, that is, at the rate of Rs.400/- per sq. mtr. It is said to be not only a residential plot, but also a small piece of land situate in village Amreli city in a highly developed area; the acquired land being about 1.5 kms. away therefrom."
"74.Two deeds of sale subsequent to the date of notification had also been brought on record being Exhibits 51 and 53 in respect of Survey Nos. 34, 40/9 and 56/57 at the rate of Rs.701.21 per sq. mtr. and Rs.673.17 per sq. mtr. respectively. The lands in question are said to be 2 kms. away from the acquired land.
76. A deed of sale dated 27.10.1988 (Exhibit 55), however, show that plot No. 8 to Survey No. 36/1 admeasuring 592.50 sq. mt. was sold at a price of Rs.83,500/-, i.e., at the rate of Rs.140.92 per square meter. The said land is said to be situated in a fully developed residential area of Amreli City and is about 2 kms. away from the acquired agricultural land of Survey No. 90/1, 90/2 and 91 of Village Giriya.
76. By reason of another deed of sale dated 18.1.1991, 361.00 sq. mtr. of land in Survey Nos. 34 & 40/9 Plot No. 10 was sold for a sum of Rs. 1,50,000/-, i.e., Rs.415.51 per sq. mtr. Two other deeds of sale being Exhibits 58 and 60 being dated 11.10.1991 and 5.1.1991 which were in respect of Survey Nos. 34, 40/9 Plot No. 60 Survey No. 41 Plot No. 14 was sold at the rate of Rs. 425.69 per sq. mtr. and Rs.292.30 per sq. mtr. for a sum of Rs.85,000/- and Rs.38,000/- respectively."
"82.So far as deeds of sale pertaining to the years 1988 and 1989 are concerned, the same were executed more than three years prior to the date of acquisition. However, in respect of the deeds of sale pertaining to Survey No. 89, in view of the under-valuation of the lands sold, the Collector fixed the same at the rate of Rs.125/- per sq. mtr. Furthermore, the Collector himself has fixed the premium of Rs.300/- per sq. mtr. for conversion from agricultural land to non-agricultural land. Although the same by itself would not be a safe Page 74 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT criterion for determining the market value, we are of the opinion that both of them may form the basis for arriving at a reasonable conclusion.
83. For the aforementioned purpose, this Court must keep in mind that the distance of the lands sought to be acquired apart from other factors from the Highway also plays an important role. Evidence has been brought on record to show that some lands, which are the subject matter of the sale deeds on which reliance has been placed by the claimants, are situated at a distance of 1.5 to 4 kms from the Highway. In that view of the matter, it would, in our opinion, be safe to arrive at the market value as on the date of acquisition for the non- agricultural lands at Rs.250/- per sq. mtr. So far as the agricultural lands are concerned, even if they had the potentiality of being converted into a non-agricultural lands as on the date of notification, they were agricultural lands albeit in a developed area. The valuation thereof may be determined at 50% of the developed land, that is, at Rs. 125/- per sq. mtr."
54. From the description of the acquired lands as set out in the above judgment, it is clear that though part of the lands falling in Group II were agricultural lands, such lands were situated within the developed area. It was considering the geographical location of the said lands, viz., the lands were surrounded by non-agricultural lands and were in the posh locality near Amreli township; going further towards Amreli Town, there are godowns, showroom of Bajaj Scooter, Jalaram Commercial Complex, Meghnath Commercial Centre and Surya Garden Hotel, etc.; it was an admitted position that the area around the land was most developed and was posh area of Amreli city; even the Department's witness had admitted that the lands of the claimants were situated near Amreli-Rajkot Road and that they were surrounded by residential houses, godowns, etc.; the Department's witness had also stated that Page 75 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT the lands were adjacent to the posh area and that the said area was a developed one; that the Supreme Court determined the market value of such lands at Rs.125/- per square metre for agricultural lands and Rs.250/- per square metre for non- agricultural lands.
55. In the present case, there is no evidence worth the name to show that the acquired lands are in any manner comparable to the lands situated on Amreli Chital Road which form part of Group II. In the opinion of this court, the subject lands would clearly not fall within the ambit of Group II in terms of the above decision as they are not situated within the posh and developed area of Amreli town. It would, therefore, be necessary to refer to the above decision as regards Group I.
56. Insofar as Group I is concerned, the apex court, inter alia, held thus:
"17. The core question which arises for our consideration is what principles should be applied for determining the market value of the land.
18. It is now a well-settled principle of law that the determination of the market value of the land acquired, indisputably would depend upon a large number of factors; nature and quality of the lands is one of them. The norms which are required to be applied for determination of the market value of the agricultural land and homestead land may be different. In given cases location of land and in particular, closeness thereof from any road or highway would play an important role for determination of the market value wherefor belting system may in appropriate cases have to be resorted to. The position of the land, particularly in rainy season, existence of any building, etc. also plays an important role.
19. A host of other factors including development in and Page 76 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT around the acquired land and/or the potentiality of the development will have a bearing on determination of the value of the land. Determination of the market value of the land may also depend upon the facts and circumstances of each case; amongst them, however, would be the price of land, amount of consideration mentioned in a deed of sale executed in respect of similarly situated land nearabout the date of issuance of notification under Section 4(1) of the Act; in the absence of any such exemplars the market value can be determined on yield basis or in case of an orchard on the basis of number of fruit-bearing trees.
20. It is also well settled that for price determination purposes, the courts would be well advised to consider the positive and negative factors, as has been laid down by this Court in Viluben Jhalejar Contractor v. State of Gujarat7, namely:
"Positive factors Negative factors (i) smallness of size (i) largeness of area
(ii) proximity to a road (ii) situation in the interior at a distance from the road
(iii) frontage on a road (iii) narrow strip of land with very small frontage compared to depth
(iv) nearness to developed area (iv) lower level requiring the depressed portion to be filled up
(v) regular shape (v) remoteness from developed locality
(vi) level vis-à-vis land under acquisition (vi) some special disadvantageous factors which would deter a purchaser."
(vii) special value for an owner of an adjoining property to whom it may have some very special advantage
21. The Reference Judge as also the High Court had proceeded to determine the market value inter alia relying upon or on the basis of some deeds of sale, valuation report, the circular letter issued by the Collector in regard to premium payable on conversion of land, etc. The Reference Court and the High Court while ignoring the deeds of sale whereupon reliance was placed by the State, for the reasons stated hereinbefore, principally relied upon a few deeds of sale. We shall take notice of some of them, namely, Exhibits 35, 36, 37, 38, 39 and 40. It will also be beneficial to consider some of the documents upon which the State relied upon, they are Exhibits 86, 90, 91 and 96.
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22. Criticisms advanced on behalf of the State in respect of the deeds of sale whereupon the claimants relied are as under:
(i) Exhibit 35 pertains to a non-agricultural resident plot;
construction thereon is only up to plinth level; it is situated in a municipal area; it a very small plot and that is why it was not comparable.
(ii) Exhibits 36 and 37 pertain to non-agricultural residential plots of land. They are situated by the side of the highway and in the municipal area.
(iii) Exhibit 38 relates to a non-agricultural residential plot, which comes under earthen dams area. It is outside the municipal area.
(iv) Exhibits 39 and 40 relate to non-agricultural residential plots of land. They touch Amreli-Chittal- Rajkot Highway and are in municipal area.
(v) Bharatbhai, PW 7, purchaser of the land under Exhibit 40, stated that the purchase of the plot by him was for a special purpose, namely, for professional and residential purposes.
23. The Land Acquisition Officer in his award noticed the position and place of the land sought to be acquired in the following words:
"Details of land to be acquired.
The lands of Survey Nos. 1007 to 1046 as shown at Sl. Nos. 1 to 28 of the statement of award are cultivable land situated on west of Thebi river far away from Amreli, near the limits of Baxipur. These lands are shown in the statement as jirayat dry and jirayat irrigated, which is black and fertile giving two crops in monsoon and winter.
The land proposed to be acquired is of old and new sharat. Amreli Town is the headquarters of Amreli District, is a railway station, ST buses are ravaging throughout the year. The population of Amreli is near about 1,10,000 which consists mainly of Patels, Banias, Brahmins, weavers, etc. who are progressive farmers. There are industries of oil mills, land weaving, etc."
24. In the said award, summary of sales of agricultural lands was prepared, which read:
"Summary of considerable sales of agricultural lands Sales of Western Bank Sales of Eastern Bank Survey Nos. Acres Date of sale Price of 1 are Survey Page 78 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT Nos. Acres Date of sale Price of 1 are 991 3.08 21-5-1985 785-25 37/37/2 6.20 6-6-1985 307-69 1063 2.38 13-12-1985 381-00 29 0.24 23-
7-1987 1041-66
949 2.28 15-4-1987 426.00 33/AB 1.11 2-3-1989
3882.35
1063 1.13 3-2-1989 754-71 33/AB 1.10 3-
3-1989 3880.00
Looking to these sales of agricultural lands, Rs 350 for jirayat and Rs 5000 for irrigated lands for 1 are seems to be reasonable for the lands of western bank of River Thebi.
Looking at these sales and the rise in price of land Rs 2000 and Rs 3000 for lands for 1 are seems to be reasonable but the geographical condition of eastern bank is quite different as most of the lands are converted into non-agricultural lands and is either populated or nearly populated area, is situated on Amreli-Chittal State Highway.
Looking to all these factors it is not possible to compare the land of western bank with land of eastern bank. No lands are converted into non-agricultural and there is no habitation in the western bank of River Thebi. Whilst there are many non-agriculture lands and habitation increases day by day. Moreover many lands of eastern bank are converted into non-agricultural, which were proposed to be acquired. Hence it seems necessary to discuss about sales of non-agricultural plotting too as the land of eastern bank are situated on Amreli-Chittal- Rajkot Highway and nearer to these and a statement of sales of non-agricultural lands has been taken from Kasba Talati Amreli which is appending as statement number K-2. Discussions of these sales are narrated herebelow."
25. Our attention was further drawn to the fact that admittedly there was no development on the western side of the river. Our attention has further been drawn to the evidence of PW 1, Jerambhai, who is one of the claimants. He admitted that in the village form, which he had produced, it has not been shown that two crops are grown and that he did not maintain any account or balance sheet of the receipt of the crop grown. He furthermore accepted that there was no railway Page 79 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT connecting the village with any big city. It was also admitted that no State highway passes through Amreli and except oil mills, there were no other industries.
26. The claimants examined one of the experts, namely, Bhikhubhai as PW 9, who admitted that he had examined deeds of sale pertaining to residential land only and not pertaining to agricultural lands. He furthermore admitted that the Land Acquisition Officer had taken into consideration figures of five years' sale transactions in his award. In his deposition he stated:
"(4) I know that Amreli is backward for industrial purpose and as per my say industrial development has been started. It is true that on the western side of the river nothing is there. Moreover, for the purpose of going towards west side, no road facility is available. As per my say the acquired land is residential purpose land. I have enquired from the Town Planning Office. It is true that in this area no residential houses have been traced out. In the year 1972, in Amreli Town planning has been endorsed and this fact I know very well. The facts are stated in Column 9 in Ext. 78, which is mentioned considering sale transaction."
27. On behalf of the State one Ramniklal was examined as DW 1. He was a Deputy Executive Engineer (Thebi Irrigation). He has not only deposed that the acquired land is situated outside Amreli Municipality but according to him they are situated at a distance of about 1½ km-2 km from Amreli-Chittal Road. Whereas the residential area, according to him, was on the eastern side, on the western side of River Thebi there was no residence. He further stated that no State highway is passing through Amreli and also that railway is not connected with big city.
28. Shri Kaushik who was examined on behalf of the State as DW 2 and had been serving the State as a Deputy District Development Officer, in his deposition admitted:
"I have awarded compensation at the rate of Rs 150 per square metre for agricultural land and which is likely to be developed. The compensation awarded at the rate of Rs 50 per square metre has been awarded fully and compensation at the rate of Rs 150 per square metre has been calculated after deducting price of road (way); in the case of not taking possession of road, then in such cases, I have awarded compensation at the rate of Re 1 Page 80 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT which is token and deduction of road was being deducted in such case where possession of road has been handed over. Generally for the purpose of converting land into non-agricultural purpose, the claimant has to left (sic for leave) 40 to 43% land."
29. It appears that the High Court had mixed up the awards made in respect of the lands situated on the eastern side of the river with that of the western side.
30. We may now notice the deeds of sale whereupon the State had relied upon. Ext. 86 is in respect of a deed of sale relating to Survey No. 991 which is adjacent to Survey No. 103-A in terms whereof only 0.77 per square metre of land was determined as the market value. It was also placed on record that the vendor Lalubhai Keshavbhai is one of the claimants before us.
31. However, it appears from Ext. 90 which is a deed of sale dated 7-1-1987 and relates to the land which is adjacent to Survey No. 999K from a perusal whereof it appears that the market value was Rs 1.85 per square metre. The subject-matter of the said deed of sale is the land situated near Nana Ankadira Village Road near the acquired land at the western side of the river.
32. Ext. 96 is the deed of sale dated 22-6-1989, appertaining to Survey No. 1043P, from a perusal whereof it would appear that the market value of the land was Rs 2.08 per square metre. Ext. 98 is the deed of sale dated 21-4-1990 which is in respect of jirayat land situated on the eastern side of the river adjoining Amreli municipal area. The market value of the same comes to Rs 8.41 per square metre.
33. Ext. 99 is a deed of sale dated 27-9-1990 appertaining to Survey No. 1047/1 and adjacent to Survey Nos. 1031 & 1046 is bagayat land, which is stated to be situated near the acquired land on the western side of the river and downstream of earthen dam, the market value of which was Rs 2.50 per square metre.
34. The High Court, however, proceeded on the basis that although the acquired lands were situated on one side of the river, in view of the fact that the entire acquired land was to be submerged, no justification can be made in regard to the nature of the land. The High Court held (in our opinion wrongly) that distance of a few kilometres from Amreli Town would not matter. The High Court furthermore opined that the lands in Village Page 81 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT Baxipur were also fertile and thus no discrimination can be made. For the said purpose the High Court relied upon the awards made in the earlier case exhibited as Exhibits 68 and 73 in terms whereof compensation @ Rs 75 per square metre was paid.
35. The variation in the price of the land within a few years is a matter of great significance. It is true that no single factor would be decisive for the purpose of arriving at the market value of the land. But in a case of this nature a holistic view is required to be taken.
36. It is, in our opinion, wholly improper to forget the distinction between the agricultural land and the non- agricultural land. Even in the same area, value of the agricultural land and the non-agricultural land may be considerably different. For the said purpose, existence of the road, railway station, airport, schools, colleges, hospitals, etc. play an important role.
37. It is not a case where the developed area and the undeveloped area or for that matter non-agricultural and agricultural lands are merely divided by a road. It is also not a case where the entire area is known and treated to be one and the same, although a part of it may be governed by the Panchayat and the other part comes within a municipal area.
38. It stands admitted that the acquired lands for all intent and purport are divided into two parts. The eastern part and only a small part of the western side is within the municipal area, and the other, consisting of agricultural lands, is outside the municipal area. It furthermore stands admitted that the town has developed only on eastern side of the river and agricultural lands are situated on the western side in which there is even no residential house."
"48. It is on the aforementioned factual backdrop and legal principles governing grant of compensation, the market value of the lands situate within Group 1 is required to be determined. The lands are purely agricultural lands. There were no buildings, there was no residential use, there was no factory. No development had taken place nor was any development expected in immediate future. The lands were acquired only for the purpose of submergence. It had thus even no building potentiality. We, therefore, are of the opinion that in view of the materials brought on record, the valuation of Page 82 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT the land should be determined at Rs 50 (Rupees fifty only) per square metre."
57. Thus, the Supreme Court has found that admittedly the acquired lands for all intent and purport were divided into two parts. The eastern part and only a small part of the western side were within the municipal area, and the other, consisting of agricultural lands, was outside the municipal area. It furthermore stood admitted that the town had developed on the eastern side of the river and agricultural lands were situated on the western side in which there was even no residential house. The court was of the view that in a case of this nature, indisputably different criteria and norms are required to be adopted for determination of the market value.
58. A perusal of the map produced on record, as well as other maps produced by the learned counsel for the respective parties during the course of arguments shows that village Baxipur is situated on the western side of the river Thebi. Insofar as the villages in question are concerned, Mangvapal is situated on the north-western side of Amreli town at a distance of about three kilometres on the Amreli Kunkavav road. On the same road, going a little further, at a distance of 6.2 kilometres from Amreli, village Nana Bhandariya is situated on the panchayat road; village Mota Ankadiya is situated at a distance of 11 kilometres on the Amreli Kunkavav State Highway; village Amarpur (Varudi) is situated between village Mangvapal and Baxipur.
59. Since no other reliable evidence has been adduced by either side which could be made the basis for determination of Page 83 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT the market value of the acquired lands, the court deems it fit to adopt the market value as determined by the Supreme Court in case of Group I in the above decision. While it is true that the lands falling within Group I were nearer Amreli than the acquired lands, insofar as such lands are concerned, the Supreme court has observed that they were to go under submergence and there was no scope of further development, which is not the case insofar as the acquired lands in this case are concerned. The Land Acquisition Officer in the award itself has mentioned that there is a tremendous increase in the yield of agricultural products and that the value of the land is increasing day-by-day, which factor is required to be kept in mind while determining the market value.
60. Thus, the court is of the view that the market value of Rs.50/- per square metre as adopted by the Supreme Court in the case of the lands falling under Group I in the case of Collector (LA) v. Madhubai Gobarbhai (supra) can be adopted as the basis for determination of the market value in the present case.
61. A perusal of the decision of the Supreme Court in the above case reveals that in the facts of the said case, the notification under section 4 of the Act came to be issued in the years 1990, 1992 and 1993. A Division Bench of this court in the case of Land Acquisition & Rehabilitation v. H. M. Upadhyay rendered on 23.8.2011 in First Appeal No.1302 of 2002 and allied matters, while placing reliance upon the said decision as a basis for awarding compensation in that case, has awarded increase in price at the rate of 10% per annum from 1993 as the notifications were published from 8.8.1990 to Page 84 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT 5.6.1993. This court is, therefore, of the opinion that the same basis may be adopted in this case also.
62. It may further be noted that while villages Mangvapal, Amarpur (Varudi), Nana Bhandariya and Mota Ankadiya, are situated at different distances from Amreli town, no evidence has been adduced before the Reference Court to point out any distinction between the lands situated in those villages. The Land Acquisition Officer in case of all the villages has determined the market value at the rate of Rs.7/- per square metre for jirayat land and Rs.10.50 per square metre for bagayat land, whereas the Reference Court in all the cases has determined the market value of the acquired lands in respect of each of the villages at Rs.20/- per square metre for jirayat land and Rs.30/- per square metre for bagayat land. In the absence of any material on record to establish any distinction between the market value of the lands situated in all the four villages, the court deems it fit to adopt the same basis in respect of each village.
63. Thus, the amount determined by the Supreme Court in case of Group I in the case of Collector, LA v. Madhubhai Gobarbhai (supra) is taken as the basis for determination of the market price of the acquired lands in question. The Supreme Court in the said case, wherein the notifications under section 4 of the Act had been issued on different periods from 08.08.1990 to 05.06.1993, had determined the market value at Rs.50/- per square metre. A Division Bench of this High Court in the case of Land Acquisition & Rehabilitation v. H. M. Upadhyaya (supra) had in the case of certain lands situated in village Giriya which came to acquired for the Thebi Page 85 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT Irrigation Project applied the above decision of the Supreme Court in the following manner:
"14. It may be noted that in the judgment of Deputy Collector, Land Acquisition, Gujarat & Anr. (supra) while fixing the market value of the lands falling under Group- I at Rs.50/sq.mtr., the Apex Court had considered the land acquisition proceedings wherein section 4 notifications were published varying from 08.08.1990 to 05.06.1993, whereas in the instant case, section 4 notification is of dated 14.04.1995 and, therefore, as decided by this Court in the case of The Special Land Acquisition Officer, Bharuch Vs. Motibhai Mohanbhai, 1997 (2) G.L.H. 773, the opponents/claimants would be entitled to increase in price for two years @ 10% p.a. and, therefore, in First Appeal Nos.1302-1303/2002 the respondents/original claimants shall be entitled to compensation @ Rs.60/sq.mtr. (i.e. Rs.50/- plus Rs.10/-)."
64. In the opinion of this court, the market value of the lands in question is also required to be determined by adopting the same principle. The learned counsel for the appellants have cited various decisions of the Supreme Court as referred to hereinabove, wherein the court has granted a 10% or more increment per year. In those cases, the Supreme Court has granted increase varying from 10% to 15% per annum. In the facts of the present case nothing has been pointed out to show that land prices have increased drastically between 1993 to 1996 and 2004 so as to call for an increase of more than 10% per annum.
65. Besides, a perusal of the award dated 6.10.2005 passed by the Deputy Collector Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation (Irrigation) Junagadh in LAQ Case No.19/2001 wherein the notification under section 4 of the Act had been published on Page 86 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT 16.01.2004, shows that he has placed reliance upon several sale deeds covering five years from the date of the notification under section 4 of the Act. A perusal of the sale deeds referred to in the award reveals that as per sale deed at serial No.11 dated 28.1.2004, Rs.882/- per are (Rs.8.82 per sq. mts) has been paid for land situated in Survey No.16/1 of Mangvapal situated at a distance of 0.24 kilometres from the acquired land, which is close to 16.1.2004 viz., the date of the notification under section 4 of the Act and which according to the Land Acquisition Officer was required to be taken into consideration. A perusal of the sale deeds relied upon in the case of Land Reference Case No.56 of 1999 (Main) shows that in 1994 the land of Survey No.59 of this village was sold for Rs.494.19 per are that is Rs.4.94 ps. per square metre approximately. Thus, the price of land during the period of ten years appears to have increased twofold from about Rs. 4.94 per square metre to Rs.8.82 per square metre, which would come to an increase of about 10% per annum. Therefore, the court deems it fit to adopt an increase of 10% per annum.
66. Insofar as First Appeals No.2825 to 2359 of 2012 and First Appeals No.229 of 2016 to 246 of 2016 are concerned, the notifications under section 4 of the Act have been issued on varying dates in the year 01.02.1996 to 16.06.1996. Considering the market value of the lands to be Rs.50/- per square metre in the year 1993, the appellants would be entitled to an increase of 10% per annum for three years. The market of value of the lands would thus come to Rs.50/- plus Rs.15/- = Rs.65/- per square metre for jirayat lands. For bagayat lands the market value is required to be computed at the rate of one and a half times the rate for jirayat lands.
Page 87 of 89C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT Accordingly, the market value of bagayat lands would come to Rs.75.00/- plus Rs.22.50 = Rs.97.50 per square metre.
67. The Reference Court has awarded compensation at the rate of Rs.20/- per square metre for jirayat land and Rs.30/ per square metre for bagayat land. The appellants would therefore be entitled to additional compensation of Rs.45/- per square metre (Rs. 65.00-Rs. 20.00) for jirayat land and Rs.67.50 per square metre (Rs.97.50-Rs.30.00) for bagayat land.
68. Insofar as First Appeals No.1546 of 2018 to 1550 of 2018, First Appeals No.1552 of 2018 to 1559 of 2018 and First Appeal No.1561 of 2018 are concerned, the notification under section 4 of the Act came to be published on 19.01.2004. Since this court has determined the market value of jirayat land at Rs.65/- per square metre and Rs.97.50 per square metre for bagayat land in respect of village Mangvapal, wherein the notification under section 4 of the Act came to be issued on 1.2.1996, the court deems it fit to adopt the said market value as the basis for determining the market value in this group of appeals. Thus, adopting Rs.65/- per square metre for jirayat land and Rs.97.50 per square metre for bagayat land as the basis as on 1996, the appellants-claimants would be entitled to 10% increase per annum for eight years, that is, from 1996 to 2004. Accordingly, the market value of the lands would come to Rs.117/- per square metre (Rs.65 + Rs.52) for jirayat land and Rs.175.50 per square metre (Rs.97.50 + Rs.78) for bagayat land.
69. The Reference Court has awarded compensation at the rate of Rs.20/- per square metre for jirayat land and Rs.30/ per Page 88 of 89 C/FA/2825/2012 JUDGMENT square metre for bagayat land. The appellants would, therefore, be entitled to additional compensation at the rate of Rs.97/- per square metre (Rs.117/-00 - Rs.20/-) for jirayat land and Rs.145.00 per square metre (Rs.175.50 - Rs.30.00) for bagayat land.
70. The appeals are, accordingly, partly allowed to the aforesaid extent. Having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case, there shall be no order as to costs.
71. Registry to place a copy of this judgment in all the connected matters. Registry is also directed to send back the original record and proceedings to the Reference Court.
72. At this stage, the learned counsel for the original claimants prays that the authorities may be directed to deposit the amount of compensation with the Reference Court. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, the court is of the view that the request appears to be reasonable. The respondents are, accordingly, directed to forthwith calculate and deposit the amount of compensation payable to the appellants in terms of this judgment with the Reference Court within a period of eight weeks from the date of receipt of the judgment of this court.
(HARSHA DEVANI, J) (A. S. SUPEHIA, J) B.U. PARMAR Page 89 of 89