THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE A. GOPAL REDDY AND THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE B. CHANDRA KUMAR A.S. No. 2471 of 2001 Date: 22.09.2009 Between: The Special Deputy Collector and Land Acquisition Officer, L.A. Unit, S.C. Railway, New B.G. Line, Karimnagar and another. .. Appellants/Referring officers And Vasala Hanumaiah and others. .. Respondents/Claimants THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE A. GOPAL REDDY AND THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE B. CHANDRA KUMAR A.S. No. 2471 of 2001 Judgment: (per Hon’ble Sri Justice A. Gopal Reddy) This appeal under Section 54 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short ‘the Act’) by the Land Acquisition Officer is directed against the decretal order, dated 21.03.2001, passed by the Senior Civil Judge, Peddapalli, in O.P. No. 112 of 1997, in answering the reference made under Section 18 of the Act in favour of the claimants by fixing the market value of the acquired land at Rs.70,000/- per acre as against Rs.10,000/- and Rs.12,000/- per acre awarded by the Land Acquisition Officer. Heard the learned Government Pleader for Appeals and the learned counsel for the respondents/claimants. An extent of Ac.58-08 guntas of land, covered by various survey numbers, situated in the limits of Sulthanabad village and Mandal, Karimnagar District, was acquired for the purpose of formation of Broad-Gauge Railway Line under 4(1) Notification published in the gazette on 20.11.1995 and 02.12.1995. The Land Acquisition Officer, after obtaining 291 sale transactions from the year 1992 to 1995, whereunder the lands were sold between Rs.72,000/- to Rs.7,27,063/- per acre, by his award dated 27.09.1996, fixed the market value of the acquired land at Rs.10,000/- per acre for Ac.47-21 guntas categorizing the said lands as Category-I and Rs.12,000/- per acre for Ac.10-27 guntas categorizing the said lands as Category-II, as against the claim of Rs.1,00,000/- per acre by the claimants. Dissatisfied with the compensation awarded by the Land Acquisition Officer, all the claimants sought for a reference under Section 18 of the Act, and on reference being registered as O.P. No. 112 of 1997, the claimant Nos.49, 61, 88 and 90 filed separate claim statements claiming compensation at Rs.1,00,000/- per acre. The other claimants filed a memo adopting the claim statements of claimant Nos.49, 61, 88 and 90. In order to prove the market value of the acquired land, the claimant No.40 was examined as PW-1, the Vendors under sale deeds Exs.A35 and A36 were examined as PWs.2 and 3 respectively and the Architecture and Practicing Engineer was examined as PW-4 and Exs.A1 to A37 were marked on behalf of the claimants. On behalf of the Land Acquisition Officer, the Senior Assistant in Revenue Divisional Office at Peddapalli was examined as RW.1 and no documents were marked, except marking the copy of award as Ex.B1. The reference Court, after taking into consideration Ex.A35 sale deed, dated 28.01.1993, whereunder Ac.0-23 guntas of land in Survey No.961-C of Sultanabad village was sold for Rs.45,300/-, which works out to Rs.78,772/- per acre, and after adding 20% time lag to the value of the sale deed Ex.A35, fixed the market value of the acquired land at Rs.70,000/- per acre with all statutory benefits. Learned Government Pleader for Appeals fairly conceded that the land sold under Ex.A35 is more than half acre, where 0-40 guntas makes an acre, and the sale deed is dated 28.01.1993 i.e., two years ten months prior to the issuance of 4(1) notification and in the absence of any evidence let in by the Land Acquisition Officer the above sale transaction can safely be relied on for fixing the market value. He further contended that though the lower Court is justified in taking the same as basis for fixation of the market value, but since the land covered under Ex.A35 sale deed is a small extent of more than half acre, whereas the acquired lands are Ac.58-08 guntas, some deductions should be made. We do not see any merit in the said contention of the learned Government Pleader, for the reason that selling of half acre of land for Rs.45,300/- is not a small extent. As seen from the award, the land belongs to several claimants, who are 80 in number and who possessed small extents of lands. The claimant No.40, who examined as PW-1, deposed that an extent of Ac.6-00 gts., of land, covered by two wells in Survey No.791, situated at Gollapalli village, was acquired along with other lands and they used to raise two paddy crops and one dry crop in a year, as they used to irrigate the lands with the waters of wells and SRSP canals, and used to get 80 bags of paddy per annum per acre. The acquired lands are centrally located in the villages of Suddala, Gattepalli and Sulthanabad. PW.2 deposed that he purchased 0-23 guntas of land in Survey No.961/C of Sulthanabad village for Rs.2,30,000/-, but he got registered the land for Rs.45,300/- under Ex.A35. The land purchased by him under Ex.A35 is a wet land. The distance between the acquired lands and the land covered by Ex.A35 is about 400 to 500 yards and he used to get an income of Rs.8,000/- per crop on 0-23 guntas of land and Rs.16,000/- per annum for two crops. PW.3 is also a Vendee who purchased 0-06 guntas of land in Survey No.718, situated at Sulthanabad village for Rs.6,000/- per gunta, which works out to Rs.2,40,000/- per acre, but to avoid stamp duty and registration charges, the same was got registered for Rs.25,500/-. The distance between the acquired land and the land of PW.3 was half K.M. Though PWs.2 and 3 were sufficiently cross-examined by the Land Acquisition Officer, but nothing was elicited to discredit their testimony or to disprove the transactions under Exs.A35 and A36. The Senior Assistant, who was working in the Revenue Divisional Office at Peddapalli, was examined as RW.1. He is not the person who made the award enquiry and how he arrived the market value is not known. Even as per the sale deeds in the award, most of the lands were sold at Rs.72,000/- per acre, but the Land Acquisition Officer has taken into consideration the sale item Nos.41 and 123, where Ac.1-00 of land was sold at Rs.10,011/- on 30.04.1994. RW.1 admitted that SRSP Canal is flowing through the acquired land, which came into existence in the year 1980 and out of Ac.58-00 of acquired land there were 30 wells. The Government is collecting Cist treating the lands as category-I. When a question was put by the Court, he answered that category-I lands are irrigated with the canal water. Once the evidence adduced by the parties clearly established that the lands were provided with water by SRSP canal and the Land Acquisition Officer has not marked any sale deeds, on which reliance is placed in fixing the market value of the acquired land, the reference Court, after taking into consideration Ex.A35 as basis for fixation of the market value, which works out to Rs.78,772/- per acre, has rightly fixed the market value at Rs.70,000/- per acre. Therefore, we are not inclined to interfere with the discretion exercised by the lower Court in fixing the market value at Rs.70,000/- per acre. The appeal fails and is accordingly dismissed. No costs. _______________________ A. GOPAL REDDY, J. ___________________ B. CHANDRA KUMAR, J. Date: 22.09.2009 Nsr