It is necessary to note that the evidence tendered by the claimants in these cases is extremely scanty. The claimants have merely stated about the crops fetched by the claimants from their agricultural lands. They have produced only two sale transactions of village Deulgaon-Mahi to show that one acre of land was sold @ Rs. 3,25,000/- per acre. Apart from these documents, nothing has been produced by the claimants before the reference Court. However, the reference Court considered the transaction at serial number 11 in the award of the land acquisition officer, dated 15.06.2005 to hold that the transaction at serial number 11 fetched the market value @ Rs. 1,22,448/- per hectare. The reference Court was not justified in considering the sale transaction at serial number 11 in the award passed by the land acquisition officer on 15.06.2005 to grant enhanced compensation to the claimants at the rate ranging from Rs. 1,15,000/to Rs. 1,64,000/per hectare. The learned Counsel for the appellantVidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation has rightly relied on the decision of the Full Bench of this Court reported in 2007 (5) BCR 847 (State of Maharashtra v. Prashram Jagannath Aute), which had considered the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court reported in MANU/SC/0071/1988 : 1988 (3) SCC 751 (Chimanlal Hargovinddas v. Special Land Acquisition Officer) which laid down the principle that the reference Court cannot take into account the material relied upon by the land acquisition officer in his award unless the same material is produced and proved before the reference court as the reference Court under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act is not an appeal against an award passed by the land acquisition officer. In view of the well settled principle of law that the reference Court could not have relied upon the material relied upon by the land acquisition officer in his award, the reference Court in these cases could not have taken into account the transaction at serial number 11 in the award passed by the land acquisition officer dated 15.06.2005 when the saledeed or the extract of sale index of the transaction at serial number 11 of the award was not produced and proved by the claimants before the reference Court. {Para 7}
IN THE HIGH COURT OF BOMBAY (NAGPUR BENCH)
First Appeal No. 589 and 590/2010 and Cross Objection No. 18 and 19/2010,
Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation Vs. Kamlaji Balaji Jadhav and Ors.
Hon'ble Judges/Coram:
Vasanti A. Naik, J.
Decided On: 07.10.2010
