The enhanced compensation and interest under the amended provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, are applicable only to cases where the award was passed after April 30, 1982, or where the reference was pending before the reference Court on September 24, 1984, the date of commencement of the amending Act.

1. - This Appeal is directed against the judgment and order passed by the learned Single Judge in SB Civil First Appeal No. 115/1972, which arose out of reference case No. 69/1970 decided on March 25, 1972 by the Court of Civil Judge, Jaipur City, Jaipur.

2. Proceedings for acquisition of land situated in village Bhojpura and chak-Sudarshanpura, belonging to the respondent herein, were initiated at the instance of Secretary, Urban Improvement Trust, Jaipur. The purpose for which the acquisition proceedings were initiated, was planned development of Jaipur City. On May 13, 1960, Notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 was issued. Thereafter declaration under Section 6 was made on May 3, 1971. After following the procedure laid down under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short the Act'), the Land Acquisition Officer passed award dated January 9, 1964 for Rs. 18,594/- as against the claim of Rs. 1,50,575/-. The amount of compensation of Rs. 18,594/- was awarded as per the following details

- Rs. 15, 450/- compensation for chahi land measuring 5 bighas 3 biswa @ Rs. 3,000/-

- Rs. 540/- compensation for ghair-mumkin rasta and ghair-mumkin dhora

- Rs. 1,708/- for pumping set
The respondent-claimants were not satisfied with the amount awarded. Hence they prayed for reference under Section 18 of the Act. Reference was made to Civil Judge, Jaipur City, Jaipur. The Court after recording evidence and after hearing the parties, passed judgment and order dated march 25, 1972 and rejected the claim made by the claimants. Thus the award passed by the Land Acquisition Officer was confirmed by the Court.

3. The respondent-claimants filed appeal as provided under Section 54 of the Act before learned Single Judge of this Court and the following three points were raised

-That the market value of the land at the rate of Rs. 3,000/- per b aha, - 1p, awarded by the learned Civil Judge is grossly inadequate;

-That solatium at the rate of 10% on the market value in consideration of compulsory nature of acquisition should have been awarded to the claimants; and

-That the interest on the amount of compensation should also be added

The learned Single Judge enhanced compensation for land at the rate of Rs. 4000/- per Bigha.

As far as enhanced amount of compensation at the rate of Rs. 4,000/- per bigha instead of Rs. 3,000/- per bigha is concerned, the learned Single Judge relied upon decision in another Appeal No. 60/1/70 of this Court. In that case, value of the land was assessed at Rs. 4,000/-. In view of this position, the learned Judge was satisfied that the amount of compensation for the land should be awarded at the rate of Rs. 4,000/- per bigha instead of Rs. 3,000/- per bigha.

4. The other two contentions were also accepted by the learned Single Judge following the decision of Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Bhag Singh v. Union Territory of Chandigarh, reported in AIR 1985 SC 1576 . In that decision it was inter alia held that the amended provision of the Land Acquisition Act which came into force with effect from September 24, 1984, would be applicable even to the proceedings which were pending before the High Court by way of appeal irrespective of the date on which the award was passed by Collector. On the basis of the aforesaid Supreme Court decision, the learned Single Judge allowed the claim made by the respondent-claimants to certain extent. The learned Single Judge held that respondent-claimants were entitled to be paid 30% of solatium instead of 15%. Similarly the learned Single Judge held that the respondents were entitled to claim interest at the rate of 9% instead of 4% on the amount of compensation awarded. This judgment was rendered by the learned Single Judge on May 14, 1986. It is against this judgment that this special appeal is filed as provided under Section 18 of the Rajasthan High Court Ordinance, 1949.

5. As far as the enhanced amount of compensation for the value of the land is concerned, it cann