ash 1 213fa1031n994.94.oj.Pendhar IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELATE JURISDICTION FIRST APPEAL NO.1031 OF 1994 AND FIRST APPEAL NO.994 OF 1994 F.A.NO.1031 OF 1994 The State of Maharashtra. .. Appellant Vs Narayan Sakharam Kadam & Ors. .. Respondents -- Shri A.R. Patil, AGP for the Appellant. Shri D.S. Sawant for the Respondent. -- F.A.NO. 994 OF 1994 Narayan Sakharam Kadam & Ors. .. Appellants Vs The State of Maharashtra. .. Respondent -- Shri D.S. Sawant for the Appellant. Shri A.R. Patil, AGP for the Respondent. -- CORAM ; A.S. OKA, J DATED : 14TH MARCH, 2011 ORAL JUDGMENT : . These two Appeals can be disposed of by a common judgment as the same arise out of a common judgment and award under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 ( hereinafter referred to as “the said Act” ). ash 2 213fa1031n994.94.oj.Pendhar 2. The acquisition relates to the land bearing Survey No.107, Hissa No.161 admeasuring 500 sq. metres situated at Village Pendhar, Taluka Panvel, District – Raigad. The land was notified under Section 4(1) of the said Act on 3rd February, 1970 for the public purposes of setting up of a satellite city of New Bombay. The award was made by the Special Land Acquisition Officer under Section 11 of the said Act on 29th October, 1986. As the award was not accepted, the Claimants applied under Section 18 of the said Act and claimed the market value at the rate of Rs.30/- per sq. metre therein. Accordingly, a reference was was made. By the impugned judgment and award, the market value of the acquired land has been fixed at the rate of Rs.13/- per sq. metre. The Reference Court granted statutory benefits under Section 23(1-A), 23(2) and 28 of the said act to the Claimants. First Appeal No. 1031 of 1994 has been preferred by the State of Maharashtra and First Appeal No. 994 of 1994 has been preferred by the Claimants. The Claimants are seeking enhancement in the market value. 3. Learned AGP appearing for the State Government in support of the Appeal preferred by the State Government submitted that there is no evidence adduced of a comparable sale instances by the Claimants and they have not discharged the burden on them. The learned counsel appearing for the Respondents placed reliance on a decision of the Division Bench of this Court decided on 16th March, ash 3 213fa1031n994.94.oj.Pendhar 2000 in First Appeal No. 875 of 1985 ( Abdul Aziz Husenmiya Patel v. Special Land Acquisition Officer ) and other connected appeals. He submitted that by the said decision, the market value of the similarly placed acquired lands situated in the same village which were notified under the same notification was fixed at the rates ranging from Rs.19/- per sq. metres to Rs.22/- per sq. metres. He, therefore, submitted that the Claimants are entitled to enhancement in compensation. 4. I have carefully considered the submissions. It is not in dispute that the lands situated in 86 different villages of Thane and Raigad Districts were notified in between the years 1968 to 1972 for the purposes of setting up of a satellite city of New Bombay. First Appeal No. 875 of 1985 ( Abdul Aziz Husenmiya Patel v. Special Land Acquisition Officer) and other connected Appeals arose out of the awards made by the Reference Court in respect of the lands situated at villages Pendhar, Taloja, Panchand, Owe, Belpada and Kharghar, Taluka – Panvel, Distirct- Raigad, which were notified on 3rd February, 1970 for the same public purpose. In paragraphs 7 and 8 of the said decision, this Court has dealt with the lands situated at village Pendhar. In case of lands which were situated in a close proximity of Mumbai-Pune Highway and Sion-Panvel Highway, the Division Bench of this Court has fixed the market value at the rate of Rs.22/- per sq. metre. In case the lands which were away from the Sion-Panvel Highway, the market value ash 4 213fa1031n994.94.oj.Pendhar was fixed at the rate of Rs.19/- psm. 5. In the present case, the Claimants have examined Mr. Manohar Gopal Vaidya, the Valuer. His report at Exhibit-28 has been proved in evidence. In the report, the Valuer has set out the distance from the acquired land and various roads, industrial estates, etc. From the report and the evidence, it cannot be said that the acquired land is situated in a close proximity of either Sion-Pune Highway or Mumbai- Pune Highway. Therefore, minimum rate fixed by the Division Bench in the aforesaid decision at Rs.19/- per sq. metre will have to be fixed in this case. The Division Bench made deduction of 10% on account of development charges. Therefore, the market value will have to be fixed at the rate of Rs.17.10 psm. 6. Hence, I pass the following order:- ORDER : (a) First Appeal No.1031 of 1994 is dismissed with no orders as to costs. (b) First Appeal NO.994 of 1994 is partly allowed. (c) The impugned judgment and award is modified and it is held that the market value of the acquired land ash 5 213fa1031n994.94.oj.Pendhar will be at the rate of Rs.17.10 per sq. metres (inclusive of the market value offered by the Special Land Acquisition Officer under Section 11 of the said Act ). The Claimants will be entitled to statutory benefits on market value of Rs.17.10 per sq. meter which are already granted under the impugned award. (d) The Claimants will be entitled to proportionate costs of the Reference as well as First Appeal No.994 of 1994. (e) The exercise of determining the compensation amount as per the modified award shall be carried out by the Reference Court within a period of three months from the date on which the writ of this judgment is received by the said Court. (f) Excess compensation amount shall be deposited by the State Government within a period of three months from the date on which the compensation amount is determined by the Reference Court. ( A.S. OKA, J )