IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE EIGHTEENTH DAY OF FEBRUARY TWO THOUSAND AND TEN PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE A. GOPAL REDDY AND THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE VILAS V. AFZULPURKAR APPEAL SUIT No.1617 of 2003 AND CROSS OBJECTIONS (SR).No.100628 of 2003 BETWEEN The Revenue Divisional Officer-cum-Land Acquisition Officer. …APPELLANT AND Archaka Padmavathi Bai and another. …CLAIMANTS/RESPONDENTS Counsel for the Appellant: GP FOR APPEALS Counsel for the Respondents: MR. N. SIVA REDDY The Court made the following: JUDGMENT: (per Hon’ble Sri Justice A. Gopal Reddy) This appeal and cross objections filed by the Revenue Divisional Officer cum Land Acquisition Officer and the claimants respectively are directed against the order and decree passed by the Senior Civil Judge, Adoni in O.P.No.115 of 1994 dated 09.07.2002 whereby the reference made by the LAO under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act (for short ‘the Act’) was answered fixing the market value of the acquired land at Rs.1,05,000/- per acre as against Rs.2,200/- per acre awarded by the LAO. 2. An extent of 50 cents of land belonging to the respondents/claimants/cross objectors was acquired by LAO for the purpose of approach road to the works location of CPWG Scheme under the Netherlands Assisted Programme by issuing notification under Section 4(1) of the Act published in the Udayam daily newspaper on 23.02.1991 and locally on 24.03.1991. LAO after completion of due formalities passed the award dated 23.01.1992 determining the market value of the acquired land at Rs.2,200/- per acre. Dissatisfied with the meager compensation awarded by the LAO, the claimants sought for a reference and on a reference being made to the civil Court, the reference Court numbered it as O.P.No.115 of 1994 and on issuing the summons, the claimants appeared and filed a written statement claiming compensation at Rs.2,00,000/- per acre. In order to prove the market value of the acquired land, the claimant No.2, who is legal representative of claimant No.1, examined himself as P.W.1 and apart from examining five more witnesses, marked Exs.P1 to P6. The RDO examined himself as R.W.1 and marked Exs.R1 and R2. 3. The evidence adduced by the parties, as admitted by R.W.1, is that the acquired land abuts the road on its north and that all the landed property in Mantralayam belongs to Sree Raghavendra Swamy Mutt and there are no private lands. Under Ex.P3, certified copy of judgment in O.P.No.90 of 1987 dated 30.01.1989, the reference Court fixed the market value of land in Sy.No.173-1 of Mantralayam village on Section 4(1) notification dated 20.09.1979 at Rs.50,000/- per acre. The reference Court in O.P.No.90 of 1987 relied upon its judgment marked as Ex.P1 where the lands were acquired under Section 4(1) notification in 1978 and awarded Rs.50,000/- per acre and the same has been confirmed by this Court in an appeal being A.S.No.1478 of 1989. Apart from the same, Exs.P4 and P5 are the sale deeds dated 18.07.1989 and 21.12.1989 relating to Sy.No.137/1, which are subsequent to Ex.P1 judgment, which was marked as Ex.P3 in O.P.No.90 of 1987. Ex.P6 is the certified copy of the sale deed dated 15.02.1991 where three (3) cents of land in Sy.No.29 was sold for a consideration of Rs.29,040/- and the field map discloses that there were sales of land in Sy.No.35/2 abutting the acquired survey numbers wherein small extents of land were sold for consideration ranging from Rs.1,74,000/- to Rs.3,96,000 per acre. Since there are no private lands and the entire land belongs to Sree Raghavendra Swamy Mutt, the LAO stated that there were no sales preceding the notification and fixed the market value at Rs.2,200/- per acre but whereas under Ex.P5 a portion of Sy.No.137/1 was sold on 21.12.1989 for a consideration of Rs.5,51,760/- per acre. 4. The learned counsel for the claimants contend that the portions of land in Sy.No.35/2 abutting the acquired land were sold for rates ranging from Rs.1,74,000/- to Rs.3,96,000/- per acre as early as 30.03.1988 and 16.04.1988, which were 2 years 11 months prior to the issuance of the notification in the instant case, as such, the same should be taken into consideration. 5. When the lands in the same survey number, in question, were the subject matter of acquisition in O.P.No.90 of 1987 and O.P.No.52 of 1987, the reference Court after taking into consideration, its earlier judgment, as confirmed by this Court in appeal, fixed the market value at Rs.50,000/- per acre. However, the sale deeds, which are marked as Exs.P4, P5 and P6 discloses that the lands were sold at Rs.1,74,000/-, Rs.3,96,000/- and Rs.5,51,760 per acre, which shows escalation of prices each year. In view of the same, the reference Court took into consideration the market value fixed by it in the earlier OPs and by adding 10% escalation every year, determined the market value of the acquired land in the instant case at Rs.1,05,000/-, which needs no interference. The appeal and cross-objections are accordingly dismissed. There shall be no order as to costs. _______________ A. GOPAL REDDY, J _____________________ VILAS V. AFZULPURKAR, J February 18, 2010 DSK