JUDGMENT

Dr. AR. Lakshmanan, J.—

CIVIL APPEAL NO. 1136 OF 2007

(Arising Out of SLP (C) NOS. 16533-16534 OF 2005)

Leave granted.

2. The above appeal was filed against the final judgment and order dated 01.03.2005 passed by the Division Bench of the Bombay High Court at Goa in First Appeal Nos. 66 of 2002 and 75 of 2002 arising out of Land Acquisition Case No. 58 of 1996 wherein the Division Bench rejected the claim of compensation of the appellants for acquisition of the land belonging to them of Rs. 750/- per sq. metre and reduced the rate of compensation from Rs.192/- per sq. metre as awarded by the District Judge to Rs.38/- per sq. metre after re-appraising the evidence and substituting their own finding of facts in place of the findings of the District Judge.

3. In the above case, notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter called the ‘Act’ for short) was published by the Special Land Acquisition Officer South Goa for acquisition of land for construction of new BG line for the Konkan Railways. The notification was published in the local dailies on 5th and 6th August, 1994. Under Section 6 of the Act a declaration stating the government’s intention to