3.�The claimants were of the opinion that
compensation offered by the Land Acquisition Officer was
inadequate and, therefore, they filed applications under
section 18 of the Act requiring the Land Acquisition
Officer to refer the applications to the District Court.
Those applications were referred to the District Court,
Bharuch by the Land Acquisition Officer, which were
numbered as Land Acquisition Reference Cases No.39/84,
148/84 to 151/84, 153/84, 154/84, 157/84, 158/84 and
161/84 to 176/84 in the District Court, Bharuch. The
claimants averred in the applications filed under section
18 of the Act that the Land Acquisition Officer had not
considered the sale instances of nearby lands of the same
villages while determining market value of the acquired
lands as on the date of publication of notification under
section 4(1) of the Act. It was claimed that the market
value of the lands acquired ought to have been fixed
taking into consideration the potentiality of the lands.
It was stressed that the acquired lands were situated in
a developed industrial area and the lands would fetch
more price than offered by the Land Acquisition Officer.
The claimants in all the applications claimed
compensation before the Reference Court at the rate of
Rs. 85,000/per Acre for their acquired lands of villages
Gadkhol and Piraman. The State Government filed reply at
Exh.5, inter-alia, contending that the applications filed
by the claimants were misconceived and the references
were barred by period of limitation. It was further
averred that before the Land Acquisition Officer, the
claimants had not produced reliable evidence in form of
sale instances in support of their claim of compensation.
It was highlighted that the claimants having failed to
submit their claim before the Land Acquisition Officer in
pursuance of issuance of notices under section 9 of the
Act, the References for additional compensatioin were not
maintainable in view of the provisions of section 25 of
the Act. Lastly,it was averred that compensation offered
