HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE A. GOPAL REDDY AND HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE RAJA. ELANGO A.S. No. 972 OF 2002 Dated 10th June, 2010. BETWEEN The Land Acquisition Officer-cum-Special Deputy Collector, Y.R.P. Unit-III, Peddapuram …Appellant/Referring Officer And Majji Apparao (died) and ors ….Respondent/claimant HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE A. GOPAL REDDY AND HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE RAJA. ELANGO A.S. No. 972 OF 2002 JUDGMENT: (Per Hon’ble Sri Justice A. Gopal Reddy) This appeal under Section 54 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 is at the instance of the Land Acquisition Oﬃcer & Special Deputy Collector, Y.R.P. Unit. III, Peddapuram, questioning the enhancement of the compensation made by the learned Senior Civil Judge, Pithapuram, E.G. District, enhancing the compensation from Rs.20,700/- per acre to Rs.40,000/- per acre in the judgment and decree dated 06.09.2000 passed in LAOP.No. 158 of 1996. The dry land belonging to the claimant to an extent of Rs.2.02 cents comprised in Sy.No. 711/2 of Kambalapalem, H/o. J.Annavaram village was acquired for the purpose of submersion under Yeleru Reservoir Project by issuing draft notiﬁcation in diﬀerent dates. The Land Acquisition Oﬃcer after completing the due and necessary formalities ﬁxed the market value of the land acquired at Rs.20,700/- per acre. Aggrieved by the said Award, the claimant ﬁled an application under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act seeking reference to the competent civil Court. In the said application, he claimed compensation of Rs.80,000/- per acre. On such reference, the Reference Court registered the reference as LAOP.No. 158 of 1996 and conducted further enquiry. In order to substantiate his claim for enhancement of the compensation, the claimant examined as P.Ws. 1 and 2 and marked Ex.A.1 to 5. On the other hand, in order to dislodge the claim of the claimant and to establish the market value fixed and compensation awarded by the Land Acquisition Oﬃcer as adequate and reasonable, R.W.1 was examined, however, no documentary evidence was adduced on his behalf. The Reference Court on appreciation of the oral and documentary evidence available on record, enhanced the compensation to and ﬁxed the market value of the land acquired at Rs.40,000/- per acre. Hence this appeal by the Land Acquisition Officer. Heard the learned Counsel appearing on either side. On behalf of the Referring Oﬃcer, the Senior Assistant working in the Revenue Divisional Oﬃce, Peddapuram was examined as R.W.1, who deposed that the Referring Oﬃcer ﬁxed the market value of the acquired land based on the registration statistics obtained from the oﬃce of the Sub-Registrar at the time of acquisition of the land and taking into consideration the statements of the neighbouring land owners and the fertility, utility and income yielding capacity of the land acquired, and, that the price ﬁxed by the LAO is reasonable and in accordance with the existing value at the time of acquisition. In the award enquiry, the Referring Oﬃcer collected 32 sale deeds made in the J.Annavaram village during the years 1986 to 1988, however, he discarded most of the sales on the ground that the value was exaggerated, extent is meagre, the lands are far away from the land acquired etc., and ﬁxed the market value at Rs.20,700/- per acre.. It is to be seen that the Land Acquisition Oﬃcer was not examined before the Reference Court to explain under what circumstances he discarded the sales. The Reference Court, therefore, rightly observed that the Referring Oﬃcer failed to prove that the market value awarded by him was the true market value of the acquired land. On the other hand, P.W.1 deposed that the land acquired is fertile, that he sold Ac.0.88 cents to one P.V.Rama Krishnam Raju for a sum of Rs.40,000/- under Ex.A.1 sale deed dt.23.1.1986, which is nearer to the land acquired and quality of the land is also one and the same. P.W.2 supported the evidence of P.W.1. P.Ws. 1 and 2 deposed that Kambalapalem, Marriveedu, Lakkavaram and J.Annavaram are adjacent villages to each other and that this Court itself considered Ex.A.1 while awarding compensation in respect of the lands in other villages acquired for the same purpose. Ex.A.5 is a judgment in batch of appeals in AS.No. 2733 of 1996& other, dated 26.02.1998, wherein this Court considered Ex.A.1 and observed that the acquired lands are similar in all aspects to the land covered under Ex.A.1 though it is situated in a diﬀerent village and ﬁxed the market value. The land under Exs.A.2 to 5, which are the judgments and decrees of this Court, are situated in the same village and acquired for the same purpose of Yeluru Reservoir Project and a Division Bench of this Court awarded compensation at the rate of Rs.40,000/- per acre for dry lands and Rs.55,000/- per acre for the wet lands. No evidence was adduced by the Land Acquisition Oﬃcer rebutting the evidence of the claimant. During the course of hearing, the learned Counsel for the claimant/respondent brought to our notice a copy of the judgment of this Court in A.S.No. 878 of 2003, dated 01.05.2007, wherein, for the lands acquired from the various survey numbers of J.Annavaram village for the very same purpose of Yeluru Reservoir Project, a Division Bench of this Court conﬁrmed the market value ﬁxed by the Reference Court at Rs.40,000/- per acre. For the foregoing discussion and following the judgment of this Court in A.S. No. 878 of 2003, dated 1.05.2007, we accordingly conﬁrm the market value ﬁxed by the Reference Court at Rs.40,000/- per acre for the acquired land of the claimant. In that view of the matter, the appeal preferred by the Land Acquisition Oﬃcer is dismissed. No order as to costs. However, it is needless to observe that the claimant is entitled to 12% additional market value on the enhanced compensation and interest at the rate of 9% per annum from the date of taking possession for a period of one year and thereafter at the rate of 15% per annum till the date of realization. --------------------------------------- JUSTICE A. GOPAL REDDY ----------------------------------- JUSTICE RAJA ELANGO Date: 10-06-2010. Msnr.