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PETITIONER: A.P.S.R.T.C HYDERABAD, REPRESENTED BY MANAGING DIRECTOR

       Vs.

RESPONDENT: P. VENKAIAH & ORS.

DATE OF JUDGMENT:       28/04/1997

BENCH: K. RAMASWAMY, D.P. WADHWA

ACT:

HEADNOTE:

JUDGMENT: Present:               Hon’ble Mr. Justice K. Ramaswamy               Hon’ble Mr. Justice D.P. Wadhwa Altaf Ahmed,  Additional Solicitor General, B. Parthasarthy, Adv. with him for the appellant Ms.  C.K.   Sucharita  and  B.  Kanta  Rao.  Advs.  for  the Respondents.                          O R D E R      The following order of the court was delivered:      Substitution allowed.      Leave granted. Heard learned counsel for the parties.      Notification under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894  (for short,  the ’Act’)  was Published  on   July 7,1977, acquiring  14 acres  32 guntas  of land of Bachiragh village near  Suryapet  Nalgonda  District  (A.P.)  for  the purpose of  constructing a  Bus stand  Complex.    The  Land Acquisition Officer  awarded compensation  @ Rs. 7,500\- per acre. The  sub-Court on  reference awarded  the considerated compensation @ Rs. 3.60 lacs per acre.  The High court it to Rs. 2,25,000/-  per acre.   It  is now  not in  dispute that Exs.A-2,   A-9 and  A-11  were  relied  on  to  enhance  the compensation. Admittedly, none of the persons connected with the documents, namely, neither the vendee nor the vendor has been examined.  This court  in Kumari  Veeraiah &  ors.  vs. State of  A.P. [(1995))  4 SCC  136] held  in the absence of adduction of  any evidence through the vendor or the vendee, the  document  per  se  cannot  be  relied  upon.  This  was reiterated in  State of Bihar vs. Madheshwar Prasad [(1996)6 SCC 197].  Acceptance of  certified copy  of the  sale  deed under section  51-A relates  only to  the production  of the original sale  deeds but  it does not dispense with proof of the contents  of the  documents, relative  feature vis-a-vis 193, the  land under acquisition. All is needed to be proved by examining the persons connected with the same and parties to the document. Following the above ratio, we hold that the view taken by the High court and that of the reference Court is entirely illegal.      The appeal  is accordingly  allowed. The  judgment  and award of  the reference  court as  modified stand set aside. The matter  is remitted  to the reference court for disposal

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the matter  afresh after  an opportunity  is given to adduce evidence afresh and the same is considered.  No costs.