JUDGMENT :

1. Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied by the impugned judgment and award dated 06.03.2017 passed by the learned Principal Senior Civil Judge, Ahmedabad (Rural) at Mirzapur, Ahmedabad (hereinafter be referred to as “the Reference Court”) in Land Reference Case No.8 of 2012, the appellants – State Authorities have preferred the aforesaid first appeals under Section 54 of the LAND ACQUISITION ACT , 1894 (hereinafter for the sake of brevity and convenience be referred as “the Act”) and Section 96 of the CIVIL PROCEDURE CODE , 1908 (hereinafter for the sake of brevity and convenience be referred as “the Code”).

2. The claimants have also filed First Appeal Nos.3297 of 2017 and 3298 of 2017 and Cross-Objections challenging the very impugned judgment and award. Since the matters are arising out of the same judgment and award, they are heard analogously and are being disposed of by this common judgment.

Factual Matrix:-

3. Brief facts of the present case are as under:-

3.1 That appellant no.2–Executive Engineer made a proposal of acquiring the lands situated at Mauje Sola, Taluka: Dascroi, District: Ahmedabad for the public purpose i.e. for extension of the complex of this Court for the land bearing survey numbers 166/1, 166/2, 169, 170, 171/1, 171/2, 171/4, 220/1, 220/2, 220/3, 220/4, 220/5, 220/6, 220/7, 221, 222, 223/1, 223/2, 223/3, 224/1, 224/2, 253 admeasuring 83,152 square meters situated abutting the Sarkhej – Gandhinagar Highway (S.G.Highway) where the Land Acquisition Officer awarded compensation of Rs. 550/- per square meter which were required to be considered by the Reference Court and accordingly, appellant no.1 had acquired the lands. The applications under Section 18 against the award passed for Phase-I was pending for the adjudication before the Reference Court. The notification under Section 4 of the LAND ACQUISITION ACT , 1894 (hereinafter for the sake of brevity and convenience be referred as “the LA Act”) was published on 04.02.2009 and notification under Section 6 of the LA Act was also published on 05.02.2010 and, thereafter, the impugned award under Section 11 of the LA Act came to be passed on 31.01.2012 by the Land Acquisition Officer in LAQ Case No.4 of 2009 whereby the Land Acquisition Officer awarded compensation for the acquired lands at the rate of Rs.1,080/- per square meter.

3.2 Being aggrieved by the impugned award dated 31.01.2012, the claimants had preferred in all fifteen reference cases under Section 18 of the LA Act claiming compensation of Rs.45,000/- per square meter.

3.3 These lands are acquired for the public purpose and accordingly, a public notice was issued under Sections 4 and 6 of the LA Act and, considering the relevant factors i.e. location, fertility of the lands, crops prospect of the development of the village and the potency of acquiring land, Special Land Acquisition Officer decided the rate of compensation on the basis of average sale price or previous five years sale transactions.

3.4 Against such award of the Special Land Acquisition Officer, the original claimants preferred Land Reference Case No.8 of 2012 under Section 18 of the L.A. Act before the learned Principal Senior Civil Judge, Ahmedabad (Rural) at Mirzapur, Ahmedabad.

Land Reference Cases & Award:-

4. The Reference Court in these group of reference cases was prayed to grant Rs. 45,000/- as market value per square meter in place of the award of compensation of Rs. 1,080/- per square meter. The claimants received interim compensation as per the award of