( 1 ) THIS judgment will dispose of Civil Appeals Nos. 1424 to 1431 of 1986, 1433 to 1457 of 1986, 1458 to 1482 of 1986, 1483 of 1986 to 1507 of 1986, 1508 of 1986 to 1532 of 1986, 1535 to 1559 of 1986, 1610 to 1634 of 1986 relating to village Veratia in District Jamnagar. The aforesaid lands were acquired for the purposes of Und Irrigation Scheme under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act. Notification under Sec. 4 was issued on 30-11-1978 which was followed by Sec. 6 Notification on 17th july, 1980 and the award was made by the Land Acquisition Collector on 27-3-1981. By the said award a sum of Rs. 2. 50 per square metre was offered to the claimants for open land. Some of the land had construction upon it. The land Acquisition Collector relied upon a report of the Deputy Engineer, who had categorised the houses which had been constructed, into four different categories. On the basis of the said report a sum of Rs. 231 per square metre was awarded in respect of category "a", Rs. 144. 00 per square metre was awarded in respect of category "b", Rs. 126/ - per square metre was awarded in respect of category "c" and Rs. 99. 00 per square metre was awarded in respect in respect of category "d".

( 2 ) BEING dissatisfied with the aforesaid offer, the claimants made applications for reference under Sec. 18 of the Land Acquisition Act. By judgment dated 13th december, 1985, the Assistant Judge, Jamnagar awarded a sum of Rs. 12. 50 per square metre for open land and Rs. 450. 00 per square metre for the constructed land.

( 3 ) IN arriving at the aforesaid conclusion regarding the fixation of compensation for open land, the Assistant Judge noticed that in the year 1966, 41 sq. yards of land had been purchased for Rs. 450. 00 and the same was proved by a Kabulat Ex. 23. The price for one square foot of land came to Rs. 10. 50. The Assistant Judge also observed that the claimants themselves had produced abstracts of sale by government auction of open pieces of land in village Virpur, Dhutarpur and Varna for the period 1967 to 1976 which show that the prices ranged from Rs. 3. 02 to rs. 4. 00 per sq. mtr. In addition to that he also took note of a sale-deed Ex. 81 in respect of a parcel of land admeasuring 25 sq. ft. having one kachha road which was sold at Rs. 111. 00 per sq. mtr. From the aforesaid instances, and without any further discussion, the Assistant Judge came to the conclusion that the claim of the claimants of Rs. 12. 50 per sq. mtr. for open piece of land was reasonable.

( 4 ) WITH regard to amount of compensation in respect of constructed properties, the Assistant Judge held that village Veratia consisted of 400 houses and the claimants who had been examined had deposed that their houses were pucca houses having good facility. While rejecting the evidence in the form of the report of the Deputy engineer which had categorised the construction into four different categories on the ground that the author of the said report has not been examined, the Assistant judge came to the conclusion that there was no cogent evidence to rebut the evidence of the claimants that the houses were pucca and therefore, it was not necessary to classify the houses into different categories. He then concluded that all the calimants should be entitled to the same amount of compensation and for determining the compensation, he held that an award Ex. 19 had been given in respect of the very same Und Irrigation Scheme for the construction in the neighbouring village kharavedha. The said award shows that houses had been classified into different categories and compensation had been given ranging from Rs. 372 to Rs. 438. Observing that there is no sale instance of any house in village Veratia he concluded that the sale instances by way of award Ex. 19 will be relevant and the claim of Rs. 450. 00 per sq. mtr. for constructed property was not unreasonable. The effect of the above conclusion is that the entire claim of the claimants, vi