Burden is on the land owner to prove the claim for more compensation.

A.S. Venkatachalamoorthy, J.

1. The Government of Tamil Nadu acquired vast extent of lands in Kooraikundu Village, Virudu Nagar Taluk and District, which are subject matter of these appeals for the construction of Armed Reserve Administrative Block and Quarters for Armed Reserve Men and Parade ground. Notification under Section.4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act was published in the Tamil Nadu Gazette on 15.7.1987 and in Tamil Dailies on 8.5.1988. After due notices to all concerned, the award enquiry was conducted from 4.12.1989 to 27.2.1990. The Special Tahsildar, Land Acquisition, Master Plan Complex, Virudu Nagar by Award No.1 of 1990 dated 7.5.1990, fixed the market value of the acquired lands at Rs.24,700 per Hectare and awarded compensation on that basis. The respondents/land owners, being aggrieved by such fixation, sought for reference under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act. Before the Reference Court, the learned counsel appearing for all the Claimants and the Government Pleader appearing for the State, filed a joint memo, requesting the Reference Court to enquire all the Claim Petitions jointly and also to take common evidence. On behalf of the land owners, the Claimant in L.A. O.P. No.169 of 1992 by name R.Ramaswamy was examined and for the State, one Venkatraman, Special Tahsildar, Master Plan Complex, gave evidence. Reference Court, mainly placing reliance on Ex.C.10, a sale deed, under which an extent of 5.3 cents was sold for Rs.9,250 in S.No.78/1 and after taking note of the fact that the lands are adjoining National Highway and also railway line is away, fixed the market value at Rs.2,000 per cent. Out of this amount, after making a deduction of 20% for the reason that it is not a developed plot, fixed the compensation at Rs. 1,600 per cent.

2. The Sate of Tamil Nadu, being aggrieved by the award of the Reference Court, has filed the above appeals.

3. Learned Additional Advocate General appearing for the Appellant/State submitted that the Reference Court has erred in fixing the market value of the property in question at Rs. 1,600 per cent. Elaborating the said submission, the learned Additional Advocate General contended that on behalf of the State hundreds of sale transactions were brought to the notice of the Reference Court and in fact, those lands lie just a couple of furlongs away from the present acquired lands and it could be safely said that the rate at which the lands were sold under those documents worked out somewhere between Rs.600 and Rs.900 per cent. Learned Additional Advocate General also submitted that though this Court fixed the market value of the lands with reference to those lying further on north of the acquired lands at Rs. 1,200 per cent, inasmuch as these lands are situated further down from those lands, ie. , at least at a distance of 11?2 to 2 Kilometers away, the proper market value that can be fixed is only somewhere between Rs.600 and Rs.900 and not more. Yet another submission has also been made to the effect that if one takes into consideration Ex.C5 which is dated 23.4.1987, the price would work out to Rs.4,000 per cent, the same cannot be safely relied on as it appears to be a stray incident and obviously the price has been boosted up in that transaction. As far as the sale transaction in Ex.C.10, which is dated 29.1.1988, it is submitted that what was sold was 5.3 cents in S. No.78/1 at the rate of Rs. 1,745 per cent. Though it is a post-notification sale, the Court can also consider it as one of the circumstances. According to the learned Additional Advocate General, that land is more closer to Collectorate and Virudu Nagar Town. If one deducts the development charges at least about 30%, then the value would work out to Rs.1200 per cent and considering the location, the land in question would fetch only much lesser than that price ie., around Rs.800 to Rs.900 per cent.

4. Per contra, learned counsel appearing for the land owners contended that this Court