1 fa563 ssp IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELATE JURISDICTION FIRST APPEAL NO.563 OF 2001 The State of Maharashtra ...Appellant vs. Sou Manik Subhash Nerurkar-Kulkarni and another ...Respondents Mr.A.R.Patil, A.G.P for the appellant Mr.Milind Parab for the respondent no.1 CORAM : A.S.OKA,J. DATE : OCTOBER 7, 2011 ORAL JUDGMENT: 1 Heard the learned A.G.P for the appellant and the learned counsel for the respondent no.1. None appears for the respondent no.2. 2 The appeal takes an exception to the Judgment and Award passed by the Reference Court in a reference under section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act,1894. By the impugned Judgment and Award, enhancement in market value has been granted. The Reference Court relied upon its earlier Judgment at Exhibit-60. This Court has set aside the said Judgment at Exhibit-60 on the ground that there was no evidence adduced by the respondent-claimant therein to prove that the amount offered under Award made by the Collector was inadequate. 3 The learned counsel for the first respondent states that valuable land held by the said 2 fa563 respondent has been lost by compulsory acquisition. He submitted that though the first respondent has not adduced evidence of any comparable sale instances, an opportunity may be granted to the first respondent to adduce evidence by remanding the reference to the Reference Court. The learned A.G.P submitted that apart from the fact that there is no case made out for remand, the State will be penalised in case the respondent succeeds after remand in as much as interest under section 28 of the said Act will become payable at the rate of 15% per annum for a very long period. The learned counsel for the first respondent on instructions states that the first respondent shall not claim interest under section 28 of the said Act. 4 In view of the aforesaid statement, prejudice to the appellant by passing an order of remand will be minimised and hence, I am passing the order of remand to enable the first respondent to adduce evidence. 5 Hence, I pass the following order : i) Impugned Judgment and Award dated 13 th March 1995 is quashed and set aside and L.A.R. no.11 of 1991 is restored to the file of the Reference Court. ii)Statement made by the first respondent that she will not claim interest under section 28 of the Land Acquisition Act,1894 is accepted. In view of this statement, now in the event the first respondent succeeds in getting enhancement in 3 fa563 market value, the first respondent shall not be entitled to claim interest under section 28 of the said Act. However, the first respondent will be entitled to claim other statutory benefits in accordance with law. iii)The parties to the reference shall be entitled to lead further evidence. Hearing of the reference is expedited. iv)The Reference Court shall endeavour to decide the reference before the end of April 2012. v) Appeal is partly allowed with no order as to costs. JUDGE