Gujarat High Court
Special Land Acquisition Officer vs Vankar Khemchandbhai Bhanabhai on 2 December, 2025
NEUTRAL CITATION
C/FA/4238/2025 JUDGMENT DATED: 02/12/2025
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 4238 of 2025
With
CIVIL APPLICATION (FOR STAY) NO. 1 of 2023
In R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 4238 of 2025
FOR APPROVAL AND SIGNATURE:
HONOURABLE MRS. JUSTICE M. K. THAKKER
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Approved for Reporting Yes No
NO
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SPECIAL LAND ACQUISITION OFFICER & ANR.
Versus
VANKAR KHEMCHANDBHAI BHANABHAI & ORS.
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Appearance:
MR BHAVESH DESAI, ASST.GOVERNMENT PLEADER for the Appellant(s)
No. 1,2
DECEASED LITIGANT for the Defendant(s) No. 3.1,3.2.1
DECEASED LITIGANT THROUGH LEGAL HEIRS/ REPRESTENTATIVES
for the Defendant(s) No. 2,3,3.2,4,5
MR AV PRAJAPATI(672) for the Defendant(s) No.
1,3.2.2,3.2.3,4.1,4.2,4.3,4.4,5.1,5.2,5.3,5.4,6,7,8
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MRS. JUSTICE M. K. THAKKER
Date : 02/12/2025
ORAL JUDGMENT
1 The present appeal is filed challenging the judgment and award dated 23.12.2013 passed by the learned Principal Senior Civil Judge, Kadi, whereby the learned Court has determined the market value of Page 1 of 6 Uploaded by M.M.MIRZA(HC01407) on Wed Dec 03 2025 Downloaded on : Wed Dec 03 22:11:00 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/FA/4238/2025 JUDGMENT DATED: 02/12/2025 undefined the acquired land at the rate of Rs.411.75 per square metre.
2 It is the case of the present appellant that the lands situated at village Dodiwada, Taluka Becharaji, District Mehsana were acquired for the purpose of constructing an approach road to the Dodiwada Bridge, and accordingly, a notification under Section 4 came to be published on 24.12.2007. The Land Acquisition Officer thereafter passed an award under Section 11 on 28.08.2009, awarding compensation at the rate of Rs.7 per square metre along with statutory benefits in favour of the claimants. Seeking additional compensation, the claimants filed a reference under Section 18 of the Act, which came to be numbered as LAR Nos. 757 of 2013 to 759 of 2013 (main LAR No. 757 of 2013). The learned Reference Court allowed the said references, and the resultant award is the subject matter of challenge in the present appeal.
3 Heard the learned AGP Mr.Bhavesh Desai for the appellant-State and learned advocate Mr. Prajapati for the defendants.
4 Learned AGP Mr. Desai submits that the learned Court has committed an error in relying upon the Page 2 of 6 Uploaded by M.M.MIRZA(HC01407) on Wed Dec 03 2025 Downloaded on : Wed Dec 03 22:11:00 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/FA/4238/2025 JUDGMENT DATED: 02/12/2025 undefined award dated 01.04.2013 passed by the learned 4th Additional Senior Civil Judge, Mehsana in LAR Nos. 431 of 2011 to 440 of 2011, which pertained to village Shankhalpura, Taluka Becharaji, District Mehsana. Learned AGP Mr. Desai submits that when the Land Acquisition Officer had determined the compensation on the basis of the valuation report, the learned Reference Court ought to have upheld the said valuation; however, the learned Court has enhanced the compensation without proper justification.
4.1 Learned AGP Mr. Desai further submits that the learned Court was required to consider the location of the land, its fertility, and other relevant factors while determining the market value of the acquired land, but instead, the Court has solely relied upon the award passed in respect of a different village. He submits that except for placing reliance on the earlier award, no other reasons have been assigned by the learned Reference Court for enhancing the compensation. Therefore, the impugned judgment deserves to be interfered with and the present First Appeal is required to be allowed.
5 Per contra, learned advocate Mr. Prajapati appearing for the defendants submits that some of the appeals Page 3 of 6 Uploaded by M.M.MIRZA(HC01407) on Wed Dec 03 2025 Downloaded on : Wed Dec 03 22:11:00 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/FA/4238/2025 JUDGMENT DATED: 02/12/2025 undefined came to be disposed of in the Lok Adalat considering the petty nature of the claims, and the other appeals pertaining to village Shankhalpura, on which reliance was placed by the learned Reference Court, were dismissed vide judgment dated 25.07.2025. Learned advocate Mr. Prajapati submits that the order passed by this Court in First Appeal No.152 of 2016 has not been carried further till date. Therefore, the impugned judgment, which is based on the land acquisition proceedings of village Shankhalpura, is required to be upheld and the present appeal deserves to be dismissed.
6 Having considered the arguments advanced by the learned advocates for the respective parties and upon referring to the reasons assigned by the learned Reference Court, the first aspect required to be noted is that the judgment and award dated 23.12.2013 were challenged by the State by filing the present First Appeal, which came to be registered on 03.11.2023. Though the application for condonation of delay has been allowed, it is pertinent to note that the State has preferred this First Appeal after remaining silent for more than ten years.
7 On considering the reasons assigned by the learned Reference Court, it emerges that reliance was placed on the acquisition award pertaining to village Page 4 of 6 Uploaded by M.M.MIRZA(HC01407) on Wed Dec 03 2025 Downloaded on : Wed Dec 03 22:11:00 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/FA/4238/2025 JUDGMENT DATED: 02/12/2025 undefined Shankhalpur. The learned Court has also taken into account the map produced at Exhibit 9/1, which indicates that the boundaries of Shankhalpur village and Dodiwada village are adjoining to each other. As Shankhalpur is a place of pilgrimage (Yatradham), the learned Reference Court made an appropriate deduction of 10%. Further, since the notification in the Shankhalpur land acquisition proceedings was of the year 2006, and in the present case it was issued in the year 2007, the learned Court granted a 10% increase in the market value of the acquired land.
7.1 On perusal of the decision rendered by the Coordinate Bench of this Court in First Appeal No.152 of 2016, wherein the appeal challenging the judgment and award passed in LAR No.431 of 2011 was dismissed and the market value determined by the learned Reference Court was upheld, it is apparent that the valuation adopted in the adjoining village has already attained finality. The only contention raised by the learned AGP is that the Land Acquisition Officer had relied on the valuation report. However, in the opinion of this Court, when the award passed by the Reference Court for the adjoining village has been upheld by this Court, it is appropriate to rely upon the same rather than referring to the valuation report.
Page 5 of 6 Uploaded by M.M.MIRZA(HC01407) on Wed Dec 03 2025 Downloaded on : Wed Dec 03 22:11:00 IST 2025NEUTRAL CITATION C/FA/4238/2025 JUDGMENT DATED: 02/12/2025 undefined 8 In that background, this Court did not find any infirmity in the impugned judgment; hence, the appeal, being devoid of merits, is dismissed accordingly. The Civil Application also stands disposed of.
(M. K. THAKKER,J) M.M.MIRZA Page 6 of 6 Uploaded by M.M.MIRZA(HC01407) on Wed Dec 03 2025 Downloaded on : Wed Dec 03 22:11:00 IST 2025