HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE A. GOPAL REDDY AND HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE RAJA. ELANGO A.S. No. 10 OF 2001 BETWEEN The Land Acquisition Officer-cum-Mandal Revenue Officer, Garedipalli …Appellant/Referring Officer And Rambagani Guruvaiah (died) and ors. ….Respondents/claimants HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE A. GOPAL REDDY AND HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE RAJA. ELANGO A.S. No. 10 OF 2001 JUDGMENT: (Per Hon’ble Sri Justice A. Gopal Reddy) This appeal under Section 54 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, is preferred by the Land Acquisition Oﬃcer-cum-Mandal Revenue Oﬃcer, Garedipalli of Nalgonda District, aggrieved by the enhancement of the compensation made by the learned Senior Civil Judge, Miryalaguda, in the judgment dated 30.08.2000 passed in O.P.No. 20 of 1993. The wet-land belonging to the respondents/claimants admeasuring Ac.3.25 guntas comprised in Sy.Nos. 81/A, 81/AA and 81/EE of Mangapuram thanda, Hamlet of Raingigudem village in Nalgonda District was acquired in the year 1991 for the purpose of providing house sites to the weaker section people. The draft notiﬁcation under Section 4(1) and draft declaration under Section 6(1) of the Land Acquisition Act were issued on 28.1.1992 and 3.3.1992 respectively. The Land Acquisition Oﬃcer after completing due and necessary formalities, ﬁxed the market value of the land acquired at Rs.21,000/- per acre by his Award dated 25.3.1992 and took possession of the land on 30.3.1992. The claimants received the compensation awarded by the Land Acquisition Oﬃcer under protest and sought for reference to the competent Civil Court under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 for determination of the correct, adequate and reasonable market value of the acquired land. In order to substantiate their claim for enhancement of compensation, the claimants examined P.Ws.1 to 3 and marked Exs.A.1 to A.4. On the other hand, in order to dislodge the claim of the claimants and to establish the market value ﬁxed and compensation awarded by the Land Acquisition Oﬃcer as adequate, reasonable and suﬃcient, R.W.1 was examined and Ex. B.1 was marked on his behalf. On such reference, the Reference Court, which registered the reference as OP.No.20 of 1993, enhanced and ﬁxed the market value of the acquired land at Rs.50,000/- per acre. Aggrieved by the said enhancement, the present appeal is preferred. . Heard the learned Counsel on both sides. Perused the material on record. The documentary evidence relied on by the claimants discloses that Exs.A1 to A4 are the certiﬁed copies of the judgments and decrees.Ex.A.2 is the certiﬁed copy of the common judgment dt.4.2.1991 passed in OP.Nos.9 of 1988 and 12 of 1988, which shows that the LAO acquired the lands in the neighbouring villages of Keethavarigudem and Kattavarigudem for the purpose of providing house sites to the weaker section people by issuing draft notiﬁcations dated 13.12.1984 and 20.2.1985 and ﬁxed the market value at Rs.12,000/- per acre and upon reference, the same was enhanced to Rs.40,000/- per acre. The said enhancement made in the reference court judgment became ﬁnal. Ex.A.4 copy of the order dt.23.7.1997 conﬁrms the same. The ﬁrst claimant, who was examined as P.W.1 deposed in his evidence that Kattavarigudem is nearby Mangapuram village, at a distance of one kilometre. However, R.W.1 and P.W.3 deposed that the distance between the above said villages is 3 KMs. It is to be seen that the same is not much controversy to the evidence of P.W.1 to be taken into consideration. The market value of the acquired lands situated in Kattavarigudem and Keethavarigudem was enhanced and ﬁxed at Rs.40,000/- per acre, the draft notiﬁcations relating to the lands acquired in those villages were issued on 13.12.1984 and 20.2.1985 respectively, whereas the date of notiﬁcation for the acquisition of lands in the present matter was issued on 28.1.1992. Keeping in view the time lag of 6 years 11 months and odd, the Reference Court though it ﬁt to add 10% of escalation value for the acquired lands in the matter on hand and enhanced the market value to Rs.78,403/-. From a reading of the material on record and judgment under appeal, it appears that the ﬁxation of the market value by the LAO is erroneous. It born out from the record that acquired lands are classiﬁed as wet lands and convenient for converting into house sites. However, taking into consideration the fact that the location of the acquired lands and the distance between the lands situated in Keethavarigudem and Kattavarigudem, the Reference Court thought it ﬁt to reduce 1/3rd in the amount of Rs.78,403/- and ﬁx the market value of the acquired lands at Rs.50,000/- per acre. It is to be seen that when once it comes to conclusion that the lands acquired in Mangapuram and Keethavarigudem and Kattavarigudem are similar in nature, there is no basis or logic for deducting 1/3rd as stated supra. But, however, the claimants have not ﬁled any cross-objections or cross appeal to defend this ground. In that view of the matter, as no other ground is urged, the enhancement made by the Reference Court, in our considered opinion, is correct, reasonable and adequate. We do not see any ground to interfere with the judgment under appeal. The appeal is accordingly dismissed. No order as to costs. --------------------------------------- JUSTICE A. GOPAL REDDY ----------------------------------- JUSTICE RAJA ELANGO Date: 01-06-2010. Msnr.