THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE V. ESWARAIAH AND THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE K.S. APPA RAO A.S. No. 1937 of 1998 O R D E R: (per Hon’ble Sri Justice V. Eswaraiah) Aggrieved by the judgment and decree dated 31.07.1990 in O.P.No. 2 of 1985 on the file of the Subordinate Judge at Suryapet, the present Appeal is filed. The appellant herein is the respondent in the aforesaid O.P. An extent of Ac. 2.40 guntas of land in Survey No. 83 situated at Madharam Village, Kodad Mandal was acquired for the purpose of providing house sites to weaker sections, pursuant to the notiﬁcation issued under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, dated 02.12.1982. The Land Acquisition Oﬃcer passed the Award dated 20.09.1984, ﬁxing the compensation at Rs.4,000/- per acre. Not satisﬁed with the said award, the respondent sought reference of the matter under Section 18 of the Act to a civil Court. The respondent claimed the compensation at Rs.20/- per square yard, apart from claiming Rs.50,000/- for the well. The reference Court, after considering the oral as well as the documentary evidence, enhanced the compensation from Rs.4,000/- to Rs.10,000/- per acre. Hence, the present Appeal by the Land Acquisition Officer. Heard the learned Government Pleader for Appeals and the learned counsel for the respondent-claimant. Now the point that arises for consideration is whether the enhancement of the compensation by the reference Court is sustainable or not. Before the reference Court, the claimant was examined as P.W.1 and the retired Engineer, who estimated the well was examined as P.W.2 and Exs.A1 and X1 to X6 were marked. On behalf of the Land Acquisition Officer, Exs.B1 to B4 were marked. Ex.A1 is the certiﬁed copy of the order in O.P. No. 20 of 1976, dated 02.04.1977. A perusal of the said order shows that the compensation in respect of the lands in the same village in Survey No. 37, which are four or ﬁve furlongs away from the road in the tank bund, was awarded at Rs.6,000/- per acre and the notiﬁcation in the said case was on 11.03.1976 i.e. six years prior to the notiﬁcation in the present case. If 10% escalation is taken, the market value will be Rs.12,000/- per acre, but however, the reference Court ﬁxed the market value at Rs.10,000/- per acre. The said fact, in fact, was not disputed by the Land Acquisition Oﬃcer as they have not lead any oral or documentary evidence. Therefore, we are of the opinion that the ﬁxation of the market value for the land acquired in this case at Rs.10,000/- per acre is just and proper. In so far as the well is concerned, P.W.2, who is a retired Engineer, estimated the value of the said well as nearly Rs.75,000/-. Taking into account and consideration Exs. X2 to X6, the market value of the well was ﬁxed at Rs.30,000/-, which, in our opinion is just and reasonable. Therefore, we are not inclined to interfere with the order passed by the reference Court enhancing the compensation from Rs.4,000/- to Rs.10,000/- per acre. Hence, the Appeal is dismissed. No costs. It is needless to mention that the claimant is entitled to all statutory beneﬁts as directed by the reference Court. ---------------------- (V. ESWARAIAH,J) ---------------------------- (K.S. APPA RAO, J) 28th November 2011 ksld