IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) MONDAY, THE 7TH DAY OF JUNE, TWO THOUSAND AND TEN PRESENT HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE A.GOPAL REDDY AND HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE RAJA ELANGO APPEAL SUIT No.275 OF 2001 And CROSS OBJECTIONS (SR).NO.25607 OF 2001 Between: The Mandal Revenue Officer –cum-Land acquisition Officer, Atmakur … Appellant And P.Silar Khan and others. … Respondents This Court made the following: HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE A.GOPAL REDDY AND HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE RAJA ELANGO APPEAL SUIT No.275 OF 2001 And CROSS OBJECTIONS (SR).NO.25607 OF 2001 COMMON JUDGMENT: - (Per Hon’ble Sri Justice A.Gopal Reddy) This appeal and the cross objections at the instance of Mandal Revenue Officer-cum-Land Acquisition Officer, Atmakur and the claimants, are directed against the order of the Senior Civil Judge, Atmakur in O.P.No.115 of 1995, dated 24.01.2000 questioning the enhancement of the compensation and seeking further enhancement of the compensation, respectively. Notification under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for brevity, “the Act”) acquiring Ac.2-87 cents of land comprised in survey Nos.114/1, 167/B, 788/C of Kurukonda village of Atmakur mandal belonged to the claimants/cross-objectors was published in the Gazette on 06.03.1992, whereas possession of the land was taken earlier to it on 10.01.1987. The Land Acquisition Officer after complying the due formalities under award No.2/92, dated 02.01.1993 fixed the market value of the acquired land at Rs.14,000/- per acre, as against the claim of the claimants at Rs.70,000/- per acre . Dissatisfied with the said fixation, reference was sought by the claimants to the civil Court under Section 18 of the Act for due determination of the compensation. On reference being made to the civil Court, claimants adduced evidence in the form of oral and documentary, by examining P.Ws.1 to 4 and marking Exs.A1 to A4 documents. On behalf of the referring officer, one witness was examined as R.W.1 and Ex.B1-Award and Ex.B2-Rough sketch were marked. The reference court after discarding Ex.A1-sale deed, Ex.A2- gift deed and A3-sale deed, as the lands covered under Exs.A1 and A3 are small bits of Ac.0-031/3 cents and Ac.0-033/4 cents respectively, took Ex.A4 – registration extract of sale deed, as a comparable sale and after giving due escalation, fixed the market value at Rs.28,000/- per acre. Questioning the said enhancement, the Land Acquisition Officer filed the present appeal and seeking further enhancement, the claimants filed the cross-objections. We have heard the learned Government pleader and the learned counsel for the claimants/cross-objectors. Learned counsel for the claimants contends that Exs.A1 to A3, which are prior to issuance of the notification under Section 4(1) of the Act and prior to taking possession of the land in question, have to be taken into consideration for fixation of the market value, after giving due deductions for the bit sales effected under the above sale deeds. When the market value ranges from Rs.40/- to Rs.50/- per sq.yd as reflected in the above sale deeds under Exs.A1 to A3, the market value comes to Rs.2,00,000/-. Even if 50% is deducted, claimants are entitled to Rs.1,00,000/-, whereas claimants have restricted their claim to Rs.50,000/- per acre, as against Rs.70,000/- per acre claimed by them before the Land Acquisition Officer and hence the cross-objections have to be allowed. We do not see any force in the contention advanced by the learned counsel for the claimants/cross-objectors, since under Ex.A4, Ac.0-50 cents of agricultural land was sold at Rs.6,400/- in the year 1986, i.e., during the proximity of the sales under Exs.A1 to A3. No evidence has been adduced by the claimants that the land covered under Exs.A1 to A3 are adjacent to the acquired land or of the same survey number, but the recitals in the sale deed discloses that the land was sold as house sites, which is naturally within the village. Even if we take Rs.6,400/-, it works out to Rs.12,800/- per acre and if six years escalation, it will be made double. The claimants are entitled only to Rs.24,000/- per acre and not more than that. Having regard to the fact that the claimants are deprived of their income by taking advance possession of five long years, which have to be taken into consideration for fixation of the market value, the fixation of the market value at Rs.28,000/- per acre by the reference Court, in the light of the above evidence is a reasonable compensation, for which the claimants are entitled to. It was nextly argued by the learned Government Pleader that when the advance possession was taken, the reference Court was not justified in awarding additional market value and interest from the date of taking possession, but they are entitled to the same from the date of issuance of the notification. We see sufficient force in the said submission. Having regard to the settled position of law, while confirming the fixation of the market value at Rs.28,000/- per acre, we set aside the award of the reference Court awarding additional market value at 12% per annum and interest from the date of taking possession i.e., 10.01.1987, but confine the same from the date of issuance of notification i.e.,06.03.1992, till the date of award and interest at 9% per annum from the said notification on the enhanced compensation for a period of one year and thereafter at 15% per annum till the payment is made. Accordingly, the appeal is partly allowed as indicated above. Consequently, the cross-objections filed by the claimants are dismissed. No costs. __________________ A.GOPAL REDDY, J ________________ RAJA ELANGO, J 7th June 2010 lmv