1 F.A.st.37362.11 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD (1) FIRST APPEAL STAMP NO. 37362 OF 2010 1. The State of Maharashtra and others. ...APPELLANTS. VERSUS Machindra Bhagwan Solanke ...RESPONDENT. WITH (2) FIRST APPEAL STAMP NO. 37368 OF 2010 1. The State of Maharashtra and others. ...APPELLANTS. VERSUS Vinayak Venkat Solanke ...RESPONDENT. WITH (3) FIRST APPEAL STAMP NO. 37373 OF 2010 1. The State of Maharashtra and others. ...APPELLANTS. VERSUS Keshav Ganpati Solanke ...RESPONDENT. WITH (4) FIRST APPEAL STAMP NO. 37380 OF 2010 2 F.A.st.37362.11 1. The State of Maharashtra and others. ...APPELLANTS. VERSUS Nagnath Dasrao Solanke ...RESPONDENT. WITH (5) FIRST APPEAL STAMP NO. 37384 OF 2010 1. The State of Maharashtra and others. ...APPELLANTS. VERSUS Bhimrao Ganpati Solanke ...RESPONDENT. WITH (6) FIRST APPEAL STAMP NO. 37361 OF 2010 1. The State of Maharashtra and others. ...APPELLANTS. VERSUS Sitaram Ganesh Solanke ...RESPONDENT. WITH (7) FIRST APPEAL STAMP NO. 37389 OF 2010 1. The State of Maharashtra and others. ...APPELLANTS. VERSUS Manohar Pundlik Solanke ...RESPONDENT. 3 F.A.st.37362.11 WITH (8) FIRST APPEAL STAMP NO. 37345 OF 2010 1. The State of Maharashtra and others. ...APPELLANTS. VERSUS Shankar Pundlik Solanke ...RESPONDENT. WITH (9) FIRST APPEAL STAMP NO. 37349 OF 2010 1. The State of Maharashtra and others. ...APPELLANTS. VERSUS Angad Venkati Solanke ...RESPONDENT. WITH (10) FIRST APPEAL STAMP NO. 37357 OF 2010 1. The State of Maharashtra and others. ...APPELLANTS. VERSUS Madhukar Ganesh Solanke ...RESPONDENT. WITH (11) FIRST APPEAL STAMP NO. 37329 OF 2010 1. The State of Maharashtra and others. ...APPELLANTS. VERSUS Anirudha Dhondiram Billapatte ...RESPONDENT. 4 F.A.st.37362.11 WITH (12) FIRST APPEAL STAMP NO. 37334 OF 2010 1. The State of Maharashtra and others. ...APPELLANTS. VERSUS Venkat Ganesh Solanke ...RESPONDENT. WITH (13) FIRST APPEAL STAMP NO. 37338 OF 2010 1. The State of Maharashtra and others. ...APPELLANTS. VERSUS Gangadhar Pandurang Nagmade ...RESPONDENT. WITH (14) FIRST APPEAL STAMP NO. 37282 OF 2010 1. The State of Maharashtra and others. ...APPELLANTS. VERSUS Madhukar Piraji Solanke ...RESPONDENT. WITH (15) FIRST APPEAL STAMP NO. 37396 OF 2010 1. The State of Maharashtra and others. ...APPELLANTS. VERSUS Madhukar Piraji Solanke ...RESPONDENT. 5 F.A.st.37362.11 ... Shri.T.S.Lohde, AGP for Appellants. ... CORAM: R.M.BORDE, J. DATE : 2ND AUGUST, 2011. PER COURT : 1. These appeals are presented by the Appellants-State raising exception to the Judgment and Award passed by the Joint Civil Judge Senior Division, Ahmedpur, District Latur, in Land Acquisition Reference bearing No. 1365 of 2001 and other companion reference petitions, decided on 22.12.2006. 2. The Agricultural lands belonging to agriculturists/claimants- respondents herein came to be acquired for construction of Thodga M.I.Tank. The lands beloning to the agriculturists out of village Thodga, Tembhurni, Kokanga and Malegaon have been acquired by the State Government for irrigation project. Notification Under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act was issued on 05.09.1996 and after following procedure prescribed in the Land Acquisition Act, award came to be passed by the Land Acquisition Officer on 29.10.1997. The Land Acquisition Officer offered compensation in respect of the acquired lands at the rate of Rs.270/- per R. 6 F.A.st.37362.11 3. The claimants being dissatisfied with Judgment and Award passed by the Land Acquisition Officer, tendered separate applications seeking reference of the matter to the Civil Court for determination of the market value of the acquired land. The claimants claimed enhanced compensation at the rate of Rupees Two lakhs per Acre. 4. In order to substantiate their contentions, the claimants led oral evidence of witnesses to prove the contentions raised by them in respect of quality,fertility of the land. The claimants also placed reliance on the documentary evidence in the form of sale instances. Exhibits 16 and 17 are placed on record, which are in respect of alienation of land admeasuring 40R for consideration of Rs.50,000/- on 06.04.1996 and 15 R land from Gut No.111 for consideration of Rs.20,000/- on 20.04.1996. respectively. The witnesses examined by the claimants have also stated about the quality and fertility of the soil and have further deposed before the Court that acquired lands are just adjacent to the lands purchased by the respective purchasers, covered by sale instances at Exhibits 16 and 17. 5. Considering oral as well as documentary evidence placed on record by the claimants, Reference Court reached conclusion that market value of 7 F.A.st.37362.11 acquired land shall be Rs.1000/- Per R. 6. I have perused the Judgment and Award of the Reference Court and heard argument advanced by Mr. Lodhe, learned AGP. I have also perused the relevant copies of evidence made available by the learned counsel, while arguing the matter. Considering all these circumstances, I am convinced that Reference Court has adopted reasonable approach in the matter and the enhancement in land value that has been granted is quite marginal. It is also to be taken note of that very small pieces of lands have been acquired for the project, thereby entitling claimants to receive paltry sum. In this view of the matter, no interference is called for in these appeals. The appeals, being devoid of substance, stand dismissed. Sd/- [ R.M.BORDE, J. ] MTK