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2017 Supreme(Guj) 1447
IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
ANANT S. DAVE, A.Y. KOGJE, JJ.
Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation Ltd. - Appellant
Vs.
Special Land Acquisition Officer & Ors. - Defendants
First Appeal No.508 of 2017 With First Appeal No.522, 523, 525, 21, 370, 1113, 1385 of 2017
Decided On : 04-08-2017
For the Appellant :Mr. K.M. Patel Senior Advocate with Mr. Premal R. Joshi, Advocate.
For the Defendants :Mr. Rutvij Oza, AGP, Mr. Mahindra R. Anand Senior Advocate with Ms. Archana U. Amin & Mr. Himanshu J. Amin, Advocates.
Headnote:
Land Acquisition and Requisition – Land Acquisition Act, 1894 – Section 4 – Notification – Acquiring of land For public purpose – Compensation – Appeal against the judgment and award dated 07.05.2016 rendered by the learned Principal Senior Civil Judge in the land reference cases pertaining to the acquisition – All the references were disposed of by common judgment and award – However, all contentions and averments between the rival parties are similar. Hence on account of commonality of the subject matter, these First Appeals arising out of the impugned judgment and award are taken up for hearing and final disposal together with the consent of all the parties – Land Acquisition Officer published Notification under section 4 of Act, 1894 for the purpose of acquiring lands for the purpose of GMMDC – As the said lands had reserve deposits of lignite, which is an important mineral used as fuel in various industries, Notifications under section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act in this connection were issued and acquisition awards under Section 11 of the Act by the competent officer were passed – Dissatisfied with the compensation awarded by the Land Acquisition Officer, which is Rs. 14.50 per sq meter for Jirayat land and Rs. 18/- per sq meter for bagayat land, the claimants preferred reference. In the reference under Section 18 of the Act before the Reference Court, initially the claim of the claimants was Rs. 62.5 per sq. meter. Thereafter, by causing amendment, it was enhanced to Rs. 1000/- per sq. meter for irrigated land and Rs. 1064/- per sq meter for non-irrigated land – Held, Decisions relied on by Mr. M.R. Anand, learned Senior Advocate for the claimant and Shri M.K Patel, learned Senior Advocate for GMMDC, the appellant aggrieved by the order of the Reference Court in support of their contention are well settled principles of law, but at the same time no straight jacket formula is available that in no case valuation of small pieces of land is to be ignored or not to be taken into consideration. As we are not inclined to apply any principle of deduction since we are in conformity with the reasonings of learned Reference Court about determination of market value of the land acquired and agreeing with the law laid down in the cases of Rajesh Valel Puthuvalil [supra], Punjaji Gopalji [supra], Atma Singh [dead], through Lrs. [supra], Wave Industries Private Limited [supra], Digamber [supra], Anjani Molu Dessai [supra], Bhagwathula Samanna [supra] as relevant paragraphs extracted and emphasised in earlier part of the judgment are self-explanatory and need no detailed discussion in view of well reasoned award passed by the learned Reference Court taking into consideration all relevant evidence and law laid down in the above judgment – Judgment and award passed by the learned Principal Senior Civil Judge, is just and proper and no interference is called for by this Court – Appeals dismissed. (Paras 8 to 11)
ANANT S. DAVE, J.
The present judgment shall govern two sets of First Appeals, each set consisting of individual First Appeal, which are all directed against the judgment and award dated 07.05.2016 rendered by the learned Principal Senior Civil Judge, Bhavnagar, in the land reference cases pertaining to the acquisition in Villages Malpur, Thordi, Rampar, Taluka Ghoga, District Bhavnagar. All the references were disposed of by common judgment and award. However, all the contentions and averments between the rival parties are similar. Hence on account of commonality of the subject matter, these First Appeals arising out of the impugned judgment and award dated 07.05.2016 are taken up for hearing and final disposal together with the consent of all the parties.
2. Out of two sets of First Appeals, First Appeals No. 1113 to 1385 of 2017 are filed by the claimants and First Appeals No. 508 of 2017, 522 of 2017, 523 of 2017, 525 of 2017, and First Appeals No. 21 to 370 of 2017 are filed by the acquiring body, viz. GMMDC.
3. The facts necessary for disposal of these appeals are as under:
3.1 On 02.09.2003, the Land Acquisition Officer published Notification under section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 for the purpose of acquiring lands of Village Malpar, Taluka Ghoga, District Bhavnagar, for the purpose of GMMDC. As the said lands had reserve deposits of lignite, which is an important mineral used as fuel in various industries, Notifications under section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act in this connection were issued on 25.02.2004 and acquisition awards under Section 11 of the Act by the competent officer were passed on 20.02.2006
3.2 Dissatisfied with the compensation awarded by the Land Acquisition Officer, which is Rs. 14.50 per sq meter for Jirayat land and Rs. 18/- per sq meter for bagayat land, the claimants preferred reference. In the reference under Section 18 of the Act before the Reference Court, initially the claim of the claimants was Rs. 62.5 per sq. meter. Thereafter, by causing amendment, it was enhanced to Rs. 1000/- per sq. meter for irrigated land and Rs. 1064/- per sq meter for non-irrigated land.
3.3 The Reference Court by its judgment and award dated 30.12.2013 was pleased to enhance the market price by Rs. 4/- which comes to Rs. 18/- per sq meter for non-irrigated land and Rs. 22/- per sq meter for irrigated land.
3.4 Being aggrieved by the market price, thus fixed by the Reference Court, the claimants preferred First Appeal No. 1460 of 2014 and allied appeals before this Court. As the claimants raised demand for adducing additional evidence, with the consent of the GMMDC, First Appeal came to be disposed of by remanding the case to the Reference Court to re-consider the issue after the claimants are permitted to adduce additional evidence.
4. It appears that upon remand, the additional evidence was led by the claimants in the form of oral deposition by one witness at Exh.95, one expert witness (oral deposition), viz. former Geologist in Government service as an expert at Exh.104, four documents being Exhibits 81, 82, 83 and 84, which pertain to fixing of price by District Valuation Committee. On behalf of the GMMDC, Assistant Manager of the Corporation was examined as a witness.
5. After recording all the additional evidence, the learned Principal Senior Civil Judge, Bhavnagar proceeded to declare the award, whereby the price fixed by the learned Civil Judge was Rs. 60/- per sq meter for both irrigated and non-irrigated lands in addition to the price fixed on 20.02.2006
6. Heard Mr. M.R. Anand, learned Senior Advocate assisted by Ms. Archana Amin, learned advocate for the claimants, and Mr. K.M. Patel, learned Senior Advocate assisted by Mr. Premal R. Joshi, learned advocate for GMMDC. Learned Senior Advocate Mr. Anand for the claimants submits that the market value fixed by the Reference Court is quite
