The main legal point established in the judgment is the interpretation of the criteria for assessing market value under Section 26 of Act, 2013, and the entitlement to additional compensation under Section 40(5) of the same Act.

JUDGMENT :

JOHNSON JOHN, J.

1. The above appeal and Cross Objections arise from the Land Acquisition Reference Case No. 10 of 2018 of the Second Additional District Judge Ernakulam. The said reference was made under Section 64(1) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (‘Act 2013’ for short) in respect of a property having an extent of 8.10 Ares in Re-survey No. 427/9-4 in Block No. 12 of Angamaly village acquired for the purpose of ‘Coast Guard Infrastructure Development’, pursuant to a notification issued under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (‘Act, 1894’ for short) dated 19.10.2013. The appellant claimed land value at the rate of Rs. 8,00,000/- per cent and the Land Acquisition Officer awarded land value at the rate of Rs. 3,60,911/- per Are.

2. The Reference Court/Authority awarded land value at the rate of Rs. 5,21,908/- per Are. The appeal is on the ground that the Reference Court/Authority ought to have accepted Exhibit A2 title deed of the acquired property, by which the appellant purchased the property for a consideration of Rs. 8,41,019 per Are. Further Exhibit A3 sale deed is the title deed of the property adjacent to the acquired property, which shows consideration at the rate of Rs. 8,40,336 per Are. It is also contended that the fair value of the acquired property at the time of issuance of Section 4(1) notification was Rs. 8,40,000 per Are and the same was subsequently enhanced to Rs. 12,60,000/- on 14.11.2014 by the Revenue Divisional Officer.

3. The appellant has also contended that the acquired property is situated very close to Cochin International Airport and 4 Kms. away from Angamaly town and Kalady junction and it has got great potential value and commercial importance and in that circumstances, he is entitled to get the land value at the rate of Rs. 11,18,272/- per Are based on Exhibits A2, A3 and A5 documents.

4. The appellant further contended that the property was acquired by invoking the urgency clause under Section 17 of Act, 1894 and in view of Section 40(5) of Act, 2013, the appellant is entitled to get an additional compensation of 75% of the total compensation determined under Section 27 of Act, 2013.

5. The first respondent filed Cross Objection No. 143 of 2021 contending that the Reference Court/Authority has erroneously held that the nature of the acquired property and the nature of the properties covered by Exhibits R1 and R2 were the same ignoring the fact that the properties covered by the above sale deeds are reclaimed nilam; whereas, the acquired property is nilam (wet land). It is contended that the enhancement of the land value given by the Reference Court/Authority is exorbitant and is liable to be set aside.

6. Cross Objection No. 40 of 2023 is filed by the additional respondents 2 and 3 contending that the Reference Court/Authority granted enhancement of land value without properly considering the objections of the respondents and without appreciating the documents produced by the respondents and that the findings of the Reference Court/Authority was based on Exhibits R1 and R2 documents with respect to dry land, ignoring the fact that the acquired property is ‘nilam’ (wet land), as per the entries in the data bank and the thandaper account and therefore, the award of the Reference Court/Authority enhancing the land value is liable to be set aside.

7. Heard both sides and perused the records.

8. For infrastructure development of Indian Coast Guard Air Enclave, Kochi, the Government of India, Ministry of Defence, as per letter bearing No. AQ/0287/CGHQ/2740/D(CGR) dated 27.12.2010, accorded sanction for the acquisition of 18.6873 acres of private land situated in Angamaly Village, Aluva Taluk, Ernakulam District comprised in survey Nos. 400,427,448, 449 and 453 by invoking the urgency power under Section 17 of Act, 1894. For the purpose of fixing the land value, the Land Acquisition Officer classified the