fast29466.10 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY, BENCH AT AURANGABAD FIRST APPEAL ST. NO. 29466 OF 2010 The State of Maharashtra .. APPELLANT VERSUS Umakant s/o Jaywant Shinde & another .. RESPONDENTS WITH FIRST APPEAL ST. NO. 29522 OF 2010 The State of Maharashtra .. APPELLANT VERSUS Jaywant s/o Digambar Shinde .. RESPONDENT WITH FIRST APPEAL ST. NO. 29518 OF 2010 The State of Maharashtra .. APPELLANT VERSUS Vishnu Bhanudas Bhargande .. RESPONDENT fast29466.10 2 WITH FIRST APPEAL ST. NO. 29515 OF 2010 The State of Maharshtra .. APPELLANT VERSUS Sonabai w/o Apparao Gaikwad .. RESPONDENT WITH FIRST APPEAL ST. NO. 29528 OF 2010 The State of Maharashtra .. APPELLANT VERSUS Dagadu s/o Dadarao Shinde .. RESPONDENT Mr. K.S. Patil, AGP for the State. CORAM : R.M. BORDE, J. DATE : AUGUST 4, 2011. PER COURT : 1 These are the appeals presented by the State raising exception to the judgment and award passed by the reference court in LAR nos. 126/1996 alongwith other companion reference applications decided on 10-3-2010. fast29466.10 3 2 Agricultural lands belonging to the claimants comprising of small pieces came to be acquired for construction of percolation tank at village Yeoti, Tq. Tuljapur. Notification under section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act was issued on 28-5-1992 and, after following the procedure prescribed under the Act, award came to be passed by the Land Acquisition Officer on 1-9-1995. The Land Acquisition Officer offered compensation at the rate of Rs. 160/- per R. Claimants being dis-satisfied with the award passed by the Land Acquisition Officer, tendered separate applications seeking reference of the matters to the civil court for determination of market value of the acquired lands. Claimants claim compensation at the rate of Rs. 50,000/- per acre. 3 In order to substantiate their claim, claimants place reliance on oral as well as documentary evidence. Documentary evidence consists of comparable sale instances. CW 2 Rangnath has been examined to prove the sale deed exh. 60 which is in respect of 63 R land sole for consideration of Rs. 45,000/- on 3-11-1998. The land covered by the sale instance is just 500 ft. away from the acquired lands and as such, the sale instance placed on record is available for consideration for determining the price of the acquired lands. Reference court, on taking into consideration all the fast29466.10 4 relevant aspects and on application of certain guess work, arrived at conclusion that the market value of the acquired lands shall be Rs.24,761/- per acre. 4 I have perused the judgment and award passed by the reference court and heard arguments advanced by learned AGP for the State. I have also gone through the evidence, copies of which are made available by learned AGP while arguing the appeals. Considering the reasonable amount of compensation offered by way of enhancement by the reference court and considering the fact that very small pieces of lands have been acquired for public purpose by the State, I do not deem it appropriate to cause interference in the appeals. Appeals being devoid of substance stand dismissed. 5 Pending civil application, if any, does not survive and stands disposed of. ( R. M. BORDE,J.) dyb