IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM PRESENT : THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE PIUS C.KURIAKOSE & THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE C.K.ABDUL REHIM MONDAY, THE 19TH JULY 2010 / 28TH ASHADHA 1932 LA.App..No. 258 of 2005(D) ------------------------------- LAR.242/1997 of PRL.SUB COURT, KOZHIKODE .................... APPELLANT(S): CLAIMANT ----------------------------- V.P.DHANALAKSHMI, D/O.K.GOPALAN, KUTTY NAIR, " ABHILASH ", CHEVARAMBALAM, KOZHIKODE. BY ADV. SRI.K.P.BALASUBRAMANYAN SRI.NIRMAL SAJEENDRAN RESPONDENT(S): RESPONDENT ----------------------------------- THE SPECIAL TAHASILDAR (LA) NATIONAL HIGHWAY (1), KOZHIKODE GOVERNMENT PLEADER SMT.P.N.SUMANGALA THIS LAND ACQUISITION APPEAL HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON 19/07/2010,THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING: PIUS C. KURIAKOSE & C. K. ABDUL REHIM, JJ. ------------------------------------------------ L. A. A. No.258 of 2005 ------------------------------------------------ Dated this the 19th day of July, 2010 JUDGMENT Pius C. Kuriakose, J The claimant is in appeal. The land was wet land. The acquisition was of the land in Vengeri village for the purpose of construction of Kozhikode byepass. The Land Acquisition Officer awarded land value of Rs.29,060.40/- for 1.56 ares. The Reference Court re-fixed the land value at Rs.18,000/- per cent. The Government preferred appeal against that judgment. This Court set aside the judgment and remanded the matter to the Reference Court making an observation that the enhancement up to L. A. A. No.258 of 2005 -2- Rs.18,000/- given on the basis of another judgment pertaining to dry land will not be applicable in the present case as the land is wet land only. Pursuant to the remand order, the impugned judgment has been passed re-fixing the market value at Rs.4,500/- per cent only. 2. In this appeal various grounds are raised assailing the judgment of the Reference Court and Sri.K.P.Balasubramanyan, the learned counsel for the appellant addressed strenuous and persuasive arguments before us on the basis of all those grounds. According to the learned counsel, the property is situated in a very important area of Kozhikode city Corporation. Though the revenue records describe the nature of the land as wet L. A. A. No.258 of 2005 -3- land the reality is that the entire land has been reclaimed. The submissions of Sri.Balasubramanyan were resisted by Smt.P.N.Sumangala, the learned Government Pleader. She drew our attention to the judgment of this Court in LAA.634/09 to which one among us [PCK(J)] was party. It is seen from that judgment that for wetlands acquired in the same village for the same purpose in the same year for which the Land Acquisition Officer has awarded Rs.2,964/- per cent, this Court had re- fixed the value at Rs.8,800/- per cent. Nobody disputes that the above judgment has become final. We notice that the above judgment has considerable probative value in this case. We also notice that the rate which had been granted by L. A. A. No.258 of 2005 -4- the Land Acquisition Officer to the property under acquisition in this case was more than the rate which had been granted by the Land Acquisition Officer to the property in LAA.634/09. This means that the property under acquisition in this case was slightly superior to the land covered by LAA.634/09. We are inclined to re-fix the market value based on the judgment in LAA.634/09. According to us, based on that judgment, the market value of the land under acquisition in this case can be re-fixed at Rs.9,500/-. It is accordingly re-fixed. 3. The appeal will stand allowed. The appellant will be entitled for all statutory benefits admissible under Sections 23(2), 23(1A) and L. A. A. No.258 of 2005 -5- under Section 28 of the Land Acquisition Act. Parties are directed to suffer their respective costs. PIUS C. KURIAKOSE JUDGE C. K. ABDUL REHIM JUDGE kns/-