( 1 ) THE fountain source leading to this group of three appeals under section 54 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (Act) is, the notification under section 4 (1), dated 12. 11. 89 under the Act for acquisition of the lands of village Agawada, Tal: Dahod, Dist: Panchmahal, by virtue of which, the lands of respondents, original claimants, came to be acquired for the purpose of Agawada Irrigation Tank Project (Project), which was followed by notification under section 6 (1 ). The Special Land Acquisition Officer by passing award under section 11 of the Act, dated 9. 6. 1992, considered and offered price of acquired lands at the rate of Rs. 6000 per hector (Rs. 0. 60 per sq. mtr.) as market value for Jarayat Land and Rs. 100 per hector for kharaba land. The claimants, having not accepted the award under section 11, desired for reference under section 18 of the Act. Therefore, reference were made to the District Court, Panchmahal at Godhra. The reference Court, upon consideration of all the facts and circumstances and the evidence, passed award on 28. 9. 2000, whereby the Court allowed all the three references, partly, and fixed the market price of the acquired land at Rs. 12 per sq. mtr. and also the statutory benefits and entitlements under the Act. The State of Gujarat and the officers in charge of the acquisition have filed this group of three appeals, challenging the legality and validity of the award under section 18 of the Reference Court. We have heard the learned advocates appearing for the parties. We have, also, dispassionately, examined the entire record. We have, also, considered the relevant proposition of law.

( 2 ) THE learned AGP, Mr. Kogje, on behalf of the appellant, has, forcefully, contended that the reference Court had committed serious error in placing reliance on sale instances which are, as such, not comparable as they are private transactions and for small parcels of and. He has, also, placed reliance on two decisions of this Court to which reference will be made by us, hereinafter, as and when required at an appropriate stage.

( 3 ) LEARNED advocates appearing for the original claimants-respondents before us, has supported the impugned awards and the determination of the market value by the reference Court. We have gone through the entire documentary evidence on which both the sides have relied on. It may be mentioned at this stage, that the appeals were remanded to the reference court for fresh consideration and thereafter the reference Court has considered the evidence, again, led by the parties and has fixed the market value at Rs. 12 per sq. mtr. in respect of the lands acquired.

( 4 ) RELIANCE is placed on sale deed produced, at Ex. 53 (Ex. 23 before remand) which is in respect of a sale transaction of parcel of land admeasuring 2120 sq. mtrs. situated in village Katwara for Rs. 31,000. 00 adjacent to village Agawada, which is dated 29. 7. 87 and it is in respect of part of the properties bearing revenue survey No. 208. Ex. 54 is also a sale deed. It is dated 23. 6. 87 in respect of 2020 sq. mtrs. of land being part of revenue survey No. 262 for Rs. 30,000. 00. The claimants, also, relied on the evidence of witness Shyamalsinh, at Ex. 48 in whose evidence, Ex. 53 and 54 are proved. Witness Shyamalsinh was working as Chairman of Agricultural Produce Market Committee, Dahod. The lands covered by Ex. 54, sale deed, are situated in Agawada. Both these sale deeds, clearly go to show that the agricultural lands were sold at the rate of Rs. 14. 85 ps. per sq. mtr. Both the sale deeds which were used as sale instances of past are in respect of non-agricutural lands. Since they are two years prior to the date of notification in the group of these matters, the reference Court considered them as comparable sale instances and awarded Rs. 12 per sq. mtr. and also other statutory benefits and entitlement including solatium.

( 5 ) IN order to determine the amount of compensation in terms of the stat