( 1 ) ALL these appeals under Sec. 54 of the Land Acquisition act, 1894, (hereinafter referred to as the Act) arise from the judgment and awards dated 29-8-1980 of the learned Judge of the City Civil Court no. 17, Ahmedabad, in Compensation Cases Nos. 1 to 4 of 1979.

( 2 ) SHORT facts of the 4 Reference Cases before the learned City Civil judge were as under : the land under acquisition was of the village Paldi and village shahwadi of City Taluka in the Districts of Ahmedabad. It came to be acquired for the construction of a dam (Right guide Bandh) for the development of water Frontage of river Sabarmati. The notification under sec. 4 of the Act was published on 2/01/1975. Section 6 notification came to be published on 16/10/1975. The Land acquisition Officer after complying with the provisions of the Act, declared his award on 15/03/1978 awarding market rate at Rs. 7/-per sq. mtr. The claimants-appellants challenged the said award by seeking references which were numbered as Compensation Cases as stated above, in the Court of learned City Civil Judge.

( 3 ) ALL the 4 Compensation Cases were heard together. Evidence was adduced before the learned City Civil Judge. The claimants relied upon the various sale instances for the purpose of pressing into service the market value. After consideration of the evidence and the submissions made on behalf of the rival parties, the learned City Civil Judge awarded additional compensation at the rate of Rs. 3. 00 per sq. mtr. by fixing the market value of the land under acquisition at Rs. 10. 00 per sq. mtr. The claimants have come in appeal against the said judgment and award by filing all these four appeals as stated above.

( 4 ) BEFORE dealing with the questions raised in this appeals, it would be appropriate to set out the particulars of the land under acquisition, the rate at which the compensation was awarded by the Land Acquisition officer and the rate at which the compensation was claimed by the claimants in the reference cases. It may be noted that the claimants so far as the land of Shahwadi is concerned, have not preferred any appeal and the claimants have come in appeal only so far as the land of Paldi is concerned. Compensa Appeal Date of Survey Area of Amount Amount Amount tion Case Mo. publica No. of ihe land claimed awarded claimed no. tion of land under before by L. A in the notifica under acquisi- L. A. Officer Ref. tion acqui- tion Officer before under sition the City sec. 4 of Civil the L. A. Judge act. sq mts. Rs. Rs. Rs. p. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1/1979 1297/8l 2-1-1975 38/2 P 5869,44 50/-per In 50/- per sq. mtr. all sq. mtr. 2/1979 1298/81 -do- 38/4 5915. 00 100/- " cases 60/- " 3/1979 1296/81 -do- 38/1 5924. 00 100/-,, Rs. 7. 00 60/-" per 4/1979 1299/81 -do- 38/3 5888. 82 50/- " sq. mtr. 50/-,,

( 5 ) THE claimants of compensation case No. 1 of 1979 Ramanlal Bhalabhai patel and another have preferred Civil Appeal No. 1297 of 1981, the claimant of compensation case No. 2 of 1979 Dinesh Manekbhai Patel has preferred civil Appeal No. 1298 of 1981, the claimants of compensation case No. 3 of 1979 Manguben widow of Natvarbhai Haribhai Patel and others have preferred Civil Appeal No. 1296 of 1981 and the claimants of compensation case No. 4 of 1979 Mahendra Manilal Patel and another have preferred First appeal No. 1299 of 1981.

( 6 ) THE land under acquisition bearing survey Nos. 38/1, 38/2, 38/3 and 38/4 of village Paldi is admittedly located in the area ear-marked as green-belt. It is also an admitted position that it is included in Town Planning scheme No. 22. It was the case of the claimants that the land under acquisition was in a developed area and a number of societies came into existence in the vicinity of the land under acquisition. It was the case of the claimants that although the land was covered in the green-belt it had full building potentiality. In view of the fact that the land was in Town Planning Scheme no. 22 it would be available for building purposes