IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION FIRST APPEAL NO.574 OF 1991 The State of Maharashtra ) through the Special Land Acquisition) officer, Metro Centre No.9, ) Panvel, Taluka Panvel, Dist.Raigad) )..Appellant (org.opponent) Versus Smt.Sharadabai Ganesh Qze ) through her power of attorney ) Savitakumari Shivkumar Chopra, ) residing at C/5/21, Model Town, ) New Delhi-110 009. )..Respondent (org.claimant) ---- Mr.B.H.Mehta AGP for the appellant. Mr.S.N.Karanjale for the respondent. ---- Coram : R.S.Mohite,J Coram : R.S.Mohite,J Coram : R.S.Mohite,J Date : 24.6.2008 Judgment :- 1. This First Appeal impugns the judgment and order passed by the Joint Civil Judge, Senior Division, Raigad, Alibag, passed on 3.5.1990 in Appeal No.597 of 1991. By the impugned judgment and order, lower Court partly allowed the reference under Land Acquisition Act and calculated the market value of the land at Rs.15 per sq.meter. The acquisition of the land in question belonging to the claimant was initiated by notification under Section 4 dated 4.2.1970 and therefore, the date for calculating the market value of the land would be 4.2.1970. The : 2 : valuation report prepared and proved by the witness of the claimants Shri Jeevan Kulkarni indicates that the acquired lands are 800 meters from the Bombay-Pune National Highway, 5280 meters from the Sion-Panvel Highway and 1600 meters from the Panvel-Uran road. 2. Number of matters have been decided by this Court in which the issue of fixation of market value of lands acquired for the same project and from the same village i.e. Karanjade was considered. In First Appeal No.30 of 1993 decided on 21.4.2006 the market rate was confirmed @ Rs.13 per square meter. Paragraph-13 of the judgment however, indicates that the acquired land in that case was 1760 meters from the Bombay-Pune National Highway, 5120 meters from the Sion-Panvel Highway and 480 meters from the Panvel-Uran road. This land in question was almost 3 times the distance from the National Highway though it was closer to a lesser road i.e. Panvel-Uran road. In First Appeal No.961/91 decided on 13.2.2008 the rate was again fixed at Rs.13/-. Paragraph-5 of the judgment indicates that the acquired land in question in that case was 2240 meters from Bombay-Pune National Highway. In First Appeal No.561/91 the rate was confirmed at Rs.12/-. In this case also the acquired land was 2240 meters from Bombay-Pune National Highway. In First Appeal No.731/1991 the rate was fixed at Rs.13/-. In this : 3 : case the land was 1760 meters away from the Bombay-Pune National Highway, 5120 meters from Sion Panvel Highway and 480 meters from the Panvel-Uran road. 3. One must bear in mind that the claimant’s witness who was her daughter stepped into the witness box and admitted that at the relevant time, there was no development, industrial, residential or commercial, in Karanjade village. 4. Taking into account the aforesaid facts and the fact that the land presently acquired is much nearer to the Mumbai Pune Highway, I am inclined to dismiss the State Appeal as higher rate of Rs.15 per square meter is awarded correctly. 5. In the net result, Appeal stands dismissed. (R.S.Mohite,J) (R.S.Mohite,J) (R.S.Mohite,J)