JUDGMENT :

Heard learned Counsel for the appellant and learned Counsel for the respondent Nos. 1 and 2/ State.

2. Present appeal is filed by appellant being aggrieved by the judgment dated 11/08/2014, passed by learned 7th Joint Civil Judge, (Senior Division), Nagpur in Land Acquisition Case No. 54/1989 to the extent it refused to enhance the compensation to the tune of Rs.11,10,000/-.

3. The brief facts of appellant’s case is as under:

The appellant was the owner of the agricultural land admeasuring 1.67 Hectare, 1.21 Hectare and 2.36 Hectare of Kh. Nos. 117, 121 and 122 of Mouza Parsodi, P.H. No. 42, Tah. And Dist. - Nagpur respectively. The total land acquired was 5.21 Hectare of the appellant. It is submitted that the said land was acquired by the State of Maharashtra for respondent No.3 i.e. Cotton Research Institute.

4. The Notification under section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, (hereinafter referred to as the Act) was published in Government Gazette on 01/04/1985. The appellant has also filed objection under Section 5 of the Act. It is further submitted that after publication of the Notification under Section 4, the respondents further issued declaration under Section 6 of the Act on 27/10/1985. It is submitted that in pursuance of the notification under the Act, the appellant has objected the necessity of the acquisition itself and alternatively also claimed the market price prevailing at the relevant time.

5. On 04/04/1987, the Special Land Acquisition Officer passed an award and granted meager amount of compensation @ of Rs.26,000/- per hectare for the land and Rs.1/- for each Subabhul tree. The appellant being dissatisfied with the award, preferred a reference u/s 18 of the Act before the learned 7th Joint Civil Judge, (Senior Division), Nagpur vide L.A.C. No. 54/1989 thereby claiming the compensation @ of Rs.1,00,000/- per acre, Rs.200/- for per Su Babhul trees, Rs.30000/- for well and also claimed other statutory relief. The learned reference Court partly allowed the reference vide its judgment dated 09/04/2001, thereby enhanced the compensation and allow the same at the rate of Rs.1,75,000/- per hectare towards acquisition of land i.e. Rs.70,000/- per acre, Rs.5,60,000/- was also granted for 2800 Su Babhul tree and Rs.20,000/- was granted for well.

6. The aforesaid judgment dated 09/04/2001 was challenged by the respondent Nos. 2 and 3/state by filing First Appeal bearing Nos. 341/2001 and 312/2002. It is submitted that the said First Appeals were allowed and matter was remanded back to the learned Lower Court, by the Hon’ble High Court on the technical ground that since acquiring body was not made party to the L.A.C. No. 54/1989. After remand, no evidence lead by acquiring body. The learned reference court partly allow the reference vide its judgment dated 11/08/2014 and thereby enhanced the compensation and allow the same at the rate of Rs.1,50,000/- per hectare towards the acquisition of land i.e. Rs.60,000/- per acre, and refused to grant compensation for trees and well. The aforesaid judgment is the subject matter of challenge in the present Appeal.

7. It is the contention of the learned counsel for the appellant that learned lower Court has miserably failed to take into consideration the material placed on record in respect of the potential value of the land which at the relevant time could have fetched minimum Rs.1,00,000/- per acre as at that time the market rate prevailing for the said area was much higher than what has been fixed by the Land Acquisition Officer as also by the Lower Court.

8. It is further contended that the said land is situated on Nagpur – Wardha highway, 5 kms from Sonegaon Airport and 1/2 km from Khapri railway station. The said areas are developed by private societies and are converted into plots, which are used for building activity. There are industries of chemical and petroleum such as L.P. Gas filling plant and Indian Oil etc. The land acquired by the respondents was black cotton soil