The main legal point established in the judgment is the determination of compensation under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, based on the correct market value of the acquired land and the valuation of fruit trees.

JUDGMENT

N. B. Suryawanshi, J. - These two appeals filed under Section 54 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short 'the said Act') challenge the judgment and award in reference L.A.C. No. 90/2010 passed by the Civil Judge Senior Division, Darwha, hence, they are decided by this common judgment.

2. Land Gat No. 11 admeasuring 4H 04R at Village Antargaon, Taluka Darwha, District Yavatmal was acquired by the Government for submergence area of Antargaon Project. Notification under Section 4 was published in the Government Gazette on 13-3-2008 and the award was declared on 30-10-2009. The Land Acquisition Officer (for short 'LAO') granted compensation at the rate of Rs. 1,03,500/- per Hectare for land and awarded total compensation of Rs. 6,70,400/- for fruit trees. The claimant filed reference under Section 18 of the said Act and claimed enhanced compensation of Rs. 1,72,05,000/-. The reference Court after considering the evidence granted enhanced compensation for the land at the rate of Rs. 2,30,070/- per Hectare and compensation of Rs. 57,517.50 was given for barren (potkharab) land of 0.05R, for 410 big orange trees, compensation at Rs. 3500/- per tree, for 250 comparatively small orange trees Rs. 2500/- per tree, for 90 small orange trees Rs. 1500/- per tree, for 2 Tamarind trees Rs. 2000/- per tree and for Pomegranate tree, Rs. 900/- compensation was awarded by the reference Court along with statutory benefits.

3. Acquiring body has challenged enhanced compensation by filing First Appeal No. 1148/2016. The claimant is seeking further enhancement of compensation by filing First Appeal No. 425/2017.

4. Heard the learned Advocate for the acquiring body and the learned Advocate for the claimant.

5. The learned Advocate for the acquiring body submitted that the reference Court has awarded exorbitant compensation without there being any material on record. The reference Court has granted compensation to more number of fruit trees. Further submission is that LAO has given proper compensation and the reference Court was not justified in enhancing the compensation. It was, therefore, urged that the judgment and award passed by the reference Court is liable to be quashed and set aside and the award of the LAO is required to be maintained.

6. The learned Advocate for the claimant on the other hand submitted that the reference Court has committed an error in not considering the sale instances brought on record. It is submitted that the reference Court erred in relying upon the decision given in LAC No.22 of 2008 while arriving at the market value of the acquired land. The said decision is challenged in a separate appeal which is subjudice before the Hon'ble Single Bench of this Court. The reference Court, therefore, was not justified in observing that no appeal is filed against the said decision.

The reference Court ought to have relied upon the market value awarded in LAC No.60 of 2011, which was placed on record at Exhibit 59. He further submitted that the reference Court ought to have relied upon Joint Measurement Report at Exhibit 53 for arriving at the correct number of fruit trees in the acquired land. However, the reference Court has erroneously proceeded to place reliance on the award and thereby awarded compensation for less number of trees. The valuation report proved on record by the claimant ought to have been relied upon by the reference Court and the compensation in terms of the valuation report ought to have been given for the fruit trees. Though four sale instances at Exhibit 17 and Exhibit 18 of Village Antargaon and Exhibit 19 and 20 of Darwha Taluka were brought on record, the reference Court has failed to consider the same while arriving at correct market value of the acquired land. He submitted that sufficient material is produced on record justifying the claimant's claim for enhanced compensation. The reference Court ou