IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD WEDNESDAY, THE TWENTY SECOND DAY OF DECEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND TEN HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE G. BHAVANI PRASAD and HON’BLE SRI JUSTSICE K.G. SHANKAR Appeal Suit No.1313 of 2002 Between: The Land Acquisition Officer and Special Deputy Collector (L.A.), Y.R.P. Unit.III, Yeleswaram .. Appellant AND Gunuri Rajulu .. Respondent JUDGMENT: (Per K.G. Shankar,J) The Government acquired Ac.1-27 cents of the land of the respondent/claimant in S.No.157/1 of J. Annavaram village. In a reference under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act in L.A. O.P. No.89 of 2004 arising out of this acquisition, the learned Senior Civil Judge, Pithapuram determined the market value of the property at Rs.50,000/- per acre for wet lands and awarded additional market value and solatium. However, he did not award interest over the additional market value and solatium. The Government preferred the present appeal impugning the orders of the learned Senior Civil Judge. When the lands situate in an adjoining village were acquired for the same purpose for which the lands of the claimant were acquired, the land acquisition O.P. No.410 of 1990 arose before the Senior Civil Judge’s Court, Peddapuram. In that case, relying upon the judgments of the High Court, which are marked as Exs.A.2 and A.3 in this case, the learned Senior Civil Judge, Peddapuram determined the market value of the property at Rs.50,000/- per acre for wet lands and at Rs.40,000/- per acre for dry lands. Aggrieved by the same, the Land Acquisition Officer preferred A.S. No.1015 of 2001 before the High Court of Andhra Pradesh. A Division Bench of Hon’ble High Court through the judgment dated 27-12-2006 dismissed the appeal and confirmed the findings of the learned Senior Civil Judge, Peddapuram that the value of the property per acre was Rs.50,000/- for wet lands and Rs.40,000/- for dry lands. Sri V. Manohar Rao, learned counsel for the respondent rightly contended that the property acquired in the present case is located in an adjoining village and that the value as adopted by the High Court in A.S. No.1015 of 2001 deserves to be adopted in the present case also. Where the acquired properties in L.A.O.P. No.410 of 1990 on the file of the Senior Civil Judge, Peddapuram and the acquired properties in this case are in adjoining villages and the acquisition was for the same purpose, it is just and proper to determine the value of the acquired property at the same rate as determined by the learned Senior Civil Judge, Peddapuram in L.A.O.P. No.410 of 1990 and as confirmed by the Division Bench of the High Court in A.S. No.1015 of 2001. Accordingly, the value, which was adopted by the learned Senior Civil Judge, Pithapuram through the impugned order, deserves to be upheld. A point of clarification is that the learned Senior Civil Judge did not grant interest on the additional market value and solatium in accordance with the view of the Supreme Court as prevailed at that point of time. The Supreme Court however subsequently took the view that when compensation is awarded under the Land Acquisition Act, the claimant would be entitled to interest over additional market value and solatium as well. The respondent herein would certainly be entitled to interest over the additional market value and solatium in the light of the present legal view. So far as the main appeal is concerned, in view of the finding of the Division Bench of Andhra Pradesh High Court in A.S. No.1015 of 2001, the finding of the learned Senior Civil Judge, Pithapuram in determining the market value of the property at Rs.50,000/- per acre for wet lands deserves to be confirmed. There are no merits in the appeal in this backdrop. The appeal is, therefore, dismissed. No costs. _____________________ G. BHAVANI PRASAD, J _______________ K.G. SHANKAR, J Date: 22-12-2010 Svv