SWATANTER KUMAR, C. J.

( 1 ) BY this judgment we will dispose of the above mentioned nine first appeals, all of which arise from the judgment of the Reference Court dated 29th October, 1997 passed in Land reference No. 28 of 1984 and other companion References. The necessary facts are that notification under section 4 of the land Acquisition Act, 1972 ( hereinafter referred to as the Act) was issued by the Government on 3rd February 1970 intending to acquire land 53 gunthas equivalent to 5362 square meters situated in the revenue estate of village Koparkhairane, Taluka and District thane, Maharashtra, in furtherance to which notification under section 6 of the Act was issued on 11th October, 1972. The land in terms of the notification was acquired for the purpose of Planned Development and Utilisation of Trans Harbour Panvel and Trans thana Creek area for industrial, commercial and residential purpose. The land was obviously acquired for public purpose. The Government took possession of the land admeasuring 53 gunthas equivalent to 5362 square meters. Having given opportunity to the parties to lead evidence in support of their claims, the Special Land Acquisition Officer passed his award dated 31st January 1984 wherein he awarded compensation varying from Rs. 2. 70 per sq mts. to Rs. 3. 60 per sq mts, depending upon the nature of the land acquired. The claimants being dissatisfied with the compensation awarded to them for acquisition of their lands, preferred separate references under section 18 of the Act. In their References they claimed enhancement of compensation at Rs. 10. 00 per sq meter. The Reference Court, as already noticed, vide its judgment date 29th October 1987, granted compensation at the rate of Rs. 10 per sq mt. equivalent to Rs. 53,620/ -.

( 2 ) THE compensation awarded by the reference Court even at the rate of Rs. 10/per sq. mt was not acceptable to the State. The reference Court mainly relied on the saledeed dated 18th November, 1967 at Exhibit 11 in respect of sale of land admeasuring 1 acre and 3 gunthas of same village. This saledeed reflected the sale consideration at the rate of rs. 9. 35 ps per sq. mt. Relying on this saledeed the Reference Court granted Rs. 10 per sq. mt as compensation payable to the claimants.

( 3 ) THE sale-deed at Exhibit 11 is admittedly a sale instance from the same village and is prior to the date of section 4 notification. Exhibit 11 saledeed was executed on 18th November, 1967, while the notification under section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, was issued on 3rd February, 1970. In fact, the claimants could have been granted even higher compensation as the intervening period between the saledeed at Exhibit 11 proved and relied by the claimants was much prior in time and was a comparable sale instance. The enhancement of meager sum of Rs. 0. 65 ps per sq. mt for the intervening period can, in no way, be said to be excessive or unreasonable. The Courts have to apply some kind of guess work while computing the compensation payable to th claimants for acquisition of their respective lands. A Division Bench of this Court, in (The State of Maharashtra Vs. Sat Dev Prakash), (First appeal No. 219 of 1989, decided on 21st june, 2007, has held that :

"14. Some element of guesswork has to be applied by the court particularly when direct evidence is not available on record. Of course such application of guess work for determining the compensation payable to the claimants essentially has to be within a very narrow compass. "

( 4 ) EXHIBIT 12 is a copy of the judgment dated 15th December, 1983, passed in Land acquisition Reference No. 26 of 1982 wherein the Reference Court had determined compensation at the rate of Rs. 10/per sq. mt to the claimants.

( 5 ) FURTHERMORE, in the judgment dated 11th September, 1987, in Land Acquisition reference No. 24 of 1982 at Exhibit 13 the reference Court had again granted similar amount of compensation. This order is consistent with earlier judgments

Click Here to Read the rest of this document