IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE 27TH DAY OF APRIL, TWO THOUSAND AND TEN PRESENT HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE A.GOPAL REDDY AND HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE G.V.SEETHAPATHY APPEAL SUIT No.1696 OF 2000 Between: Land Acquisition Officer, Mandal Revenue Officer, Machareddy … Appellant And Chinta Rajaiah and Chitna Narayana … Respondents This Court made the following: HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE A.GOPAL REDDY AND HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE G.V.SEETHAPATHY APPEAL SUIT No.1696 OF 2000 JUDGMENT: - (Per Hon’ble Sri Justice A.Gopal Reddy) This appeal by the Land Acquisition Officer-cum-Mandal Revenue Officer, Machareddy, is filed under Section 54 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for brevity, “the Act”), questioning the enhancement of the compensation made by the Additional District Judge, Nizamabad in O.P.No.118 of 1993 dated 13.12.1999. An extent of Ac.1-31 guntas of land situated at Akkapur village was acquired for the purpose of providing house sites to S.Cs in the village. Draft notification under Section 4(1) of the Act, dated 12.02.1992 was published in the District Gazette on 14.02.1992, followed by a draft declaration under Section 6 of the Act, dated 12.02.1992 published in the District Gazette on 15.02.1992. Possession of the land was taken on 01.04.1992. The Land Acquisition Officer after complying the necessary formalities by his award dated 31.12.1992 fixed the market value of the acquired land at Rs.8,000/- per acre. Dissatisfied with the said fixation, the claimants sought for reference and on receipt of the reference by the civil Court, claimants filed claim statement. In order to prove the enhancement of the market value, the first claimant examined himself as R.W.1 and one more witness as R.W.2 and certified copy of the order passed in O.P.No.5 of 1985 was marked as Ex.B1. On behalf of the referring officer, P.W.1 was examined and award copy was marked as Ex.A1. The evidence adduced by the parties discloses that the Akkapur village is situated 3 kilometres away from Machareddy Mandal head quarter and the lands covered under Ex.B1 are situated in Annaram, which is an adjoining village. The people of Annaram has to go through Akkapur village to Machareddy. The Mandal Revenue Officer who was examined as P.W.1 also admitted in the cross-examination that as per the sale deed, the lands were sold at Rs.83,000/- per acre and the lands covered by O.P.No.5 of 1985 are situated side by side. Further, it reveals that in O.P.No.5 of 1985, the reference Court relied upon the judgment in O.P.No.237 of 1985 at Chintapalli village, which is adjacent to Annaram and fixed the market value at Rs.16,500/- per acre, after deducting 1/4th of the land acquired towards development charges. R.W.2, who is the claimant No.2 in the above O.P.No.5 of 1985, also stated that his lands were acquired in the year 1984 for the same purpose, for which the reference Court fixed the market value at Rs.16,500/- per acre. Even if 10% escalation is given for every year, till the date of issuance of notification i.e., 8 years, the market value will be much more than the market value fixed by the reference Court in O.P.No.5 of 1985. Therefore, the fixation of the market value at Rs.16,500/- per acre by the reference Court for the lands acquired relying on the judgment in O.P.No.5 of 1985 where notification was issued eight years earlier to the present notification, does not call for any interference by this Court. The appeal is accordingly dismissed. No costs. __________________ A.GOPAL REDDY, J ____________________ G.V.SEETHAPATHY, J 27th April 2010 lmv