JUDGMENT

VENKATACHALA, J.- Having granted leave to appeal sought for in the above special leave petitions directed against the common judgment and decree dated 19-4-1993 rendered in Appeals Nos. 1565 and 2087 of 1991 by the High Court of Andhra Pradesh at Hyderabad and heard arguments of learned counsel appearing for the contesting parties in the appeals, we propose to dispose of all these appeals by this common judgment.

2. Shri P. Ram Reddy, the appellant in appeals arising out of SLPs Nos. 13362-63 of 1993 and respondent in appeal arising out of SLP No. 18202 of 1993, to be referred to hereinafter as "the claimant", was the owner in possession of dry land of as large an extent as 10 acres 17 guntas comprised in Survey Nos. 48/24 and 48/26 of Katedhan Village lying in the outskirts of Hyderabad. One acre 25 guntas of land out of 5 acres 22 guntas of land in Survey No. 48/24 and 2 acres 15 guntas of land out of 4 acres 35 guntas of land in Survey No. 48/26 were the lands included in the total extent of 14 acres and 35 guntas of land proposed to be acquired by Hyderabad Urban Development Authority - HUDA for formation of inner ring road required to connect Old Kurnool Road with Hyderabad-Bangalore National Highway No. 7, under Land Acquisition Act, 1894 as amended by Act 68 of 1984 - "the LA Act", by a notification under Section 4(1) thereof, published in the modes prescribed thereunder, by issuance of public notice in the locality on 2-9-1985. The acquisition of the said lands having been completed by a declaration made and published under Section 6 of the LA Act, notice under Section 9 was issued to the claimant calling upon him to make his claim for compensation of the acquired land before the Land Acquisition Officer of the HUDA - hereinafter to be referred to as "the LAO". In response to the said notice, the claimant claimed award of compensation by the LAO for his acquired lands at the rate of Rs 150 per sq. yard apart from the statutory benefits which he was entitled to get under the LA Act. The LAO, by his award made under Section 11 of the LA Act, determined the market value of the claimants acquired land at Rs 12 per sq. yard and awarded to him the amount of compensation together with statutory benefits. Since that award of the LAO was unacceptable to the claimant, he made an application to the LAO under Section 18 of the LA Act and got the application referred to the Court of the Subordinate Judge, Ranga Reddy District - "Civil Court", for determination of the just compensation payable to him. On that reference registered as AS No. 129 of 1988, the Civil Court held the inquiry as required by the LA Act and on the basis of the inquiry so held, determined the market value of the claimants lands at Rs 80 per sq. yard and accordingly made an award and decree dated 18-4-1991 together with the statutory benefits. That award and decree were appealed against in the High Court by the claimant and the LAO respectively in AS No. 1565 of 1991 and AS No. 2087 of 1991, the former seeking grant of further enhanced compensation and the latter seeking reduction in the granted compensation. Both the appeals being clubbed together and heard by the Division Bench of the High Court, the market value of the claimants land was reduced to Rs 32 per sq. yard with proportionate reduction in the statutory benefits, by its common judgment and decree rendered on 19-4-1993. While the claimant questioned the correctness of the said judgment and decree of the High Court by filing appeals arising out of SLPs Nos. 13362-13363 of 1993, the LAO challenged the correctness of the same judgment and decree by filing appeal arising out of SLP No. 18202 of 1993, as stated at the outset. The above-stated facts make it clear that the LAO, by his award (Ex. B-1) fixed the value of the acquired land at Rs 20 per sq. yard on the basis of the value fetched by sale of residential building plots at Rs 20 per sq. yard under sale deed dated 14-10-1982 whereunder 200 s