Gujarat High Court
Patel Nagarbhai Bhudarbhai vs State Of Gujarat on 29 July, 2025
Author: Sunita Agarwal
Bench: Sunita Agarwal
NEUTRAL CITATION
C/SCA/10314/2025 ORDER DATED: 29/07/2025
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 10314 of 2025
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PATEL NAGARBHAI BHUDARBHAI
Versus
STATE OF GUJARAT & ORS.
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Appearance:
MR RAKESH R PATEL(3239) for the Petitioner(s) No. 1
MR SANJAY UDHWANI, ASSISTANT GOVERNMENT PLEADER for the
Respondent(s) No. 1,2
MR. ALKESH N SHAH(3749) for the Respondent(s) No. 3,4
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CORAM:HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE MRS.
JUSTICE SUNITA AGARWAL
and
HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE D.N.RAY
Date : 29/07/2025
ORAL ORDER
(PER : HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE MRS. JUSTICE SUNITA AGARWAL)
1. The petitioner herein is challenging the computation made under the award dated 19.02.2025 towards statutory interest under Section 80 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation, and Resettlement Act, 2013 (in short "the Act' 2013') which was denied in the original award passed on 12.02.2021. On a writ petition namely Special Civil Application No.17568 of 2024 filed by the petitioner, vide judgment and order dated 03.01.2025, directions were issued to the competent authority to make the recomputation of interest under Section 80 on the Page 1 of 5 Uploaded by A. B. VAGHELA(HC01079) on Fri Aug 01 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Aug 02 00:38:19 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/10314/2025 ORDER DATED: 29/07/2025 undefined amount of compensation determined under the award dated 12.02.2021. The writ petition was disposed of with the direction as follows:
"[8] Taking note of the above, we dispose of the present batch of writ petitions with the directions that the competent Land Acquisition Officers shall make recomputation by applying the benefit of statutory interest of 09% and 15% prescribed under Section 80 of the Act' 2013, in each individual cases of the writ petitioners herein by passing separate orders. The statutory interest under Section 80 of the Act' 2013 is to be recomputed on the total amount of compensation, which includes the market value, solatium as well as additional interest and all other elements of compensation as provided under the Act' 2013. The recomputation of benefits as per the directions given above shall be made by the concerned authority within a period of two months from today."
2. It is submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that the determination made under the additional award passed on 19.02.2025 is about the interest leviable on the compensation amount under Section 80, which was to be computed from the date of taking possession till the date of making payment of compensation. There was a shortfall in the Page 2 of 5 Uploaded by A. B. VAGHELA(HC01079) on Fri Aug 01 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Aug 02 00:38:19 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/10314/2025 ORDER DATED: 29/07/2025 undefined determination made under the original award dated 12.02.2021, inasmuch as, the interest amount was not computed at that relevant point of time. The payment under the original award, however, had been made on 15.07.2021. The competent authority, thus, computed the shortfall of statutory interest under Section 80 from the date of taking possession, i.e.27.03.2015 till the date of payment of compensation under the original award, on 15.07.2021. However, the computed amount towards shortfall under Section 80 under the award dated 19.02.2025 has been paid/disbursed to the land holder on 28.03.2025. The contention, thus, is that the difference of the amount of interest between 15.07.2021 and 28.03.2025, till the date of payment of the statutory interest payable under the award dated 12.02.2021 is liable to be paid to the petitioner.
3. Considering the submissions made by the learned counsel for the petitioner we may note that that Section 80 of the Act' 2013 provides for the payment of interest on the compensation which has not been deposited on or before taking possession of the land. For the first year from the date of taking possession, the interest on the amount awarded is to Page 3 of 5 Uploaded by A. B. VAGHELA(HC01079) on Fri Aug 01 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Aug 02 00:38:19 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/10314/2025 ORDER DATED: 29/07/2025 undefined be levied at the rate of 9% per annum from the date of taking possession until the same has been paid or deposited. Proviso to Section 80 further provides that if compensation or any part thereof is not paid or deposited within the period of 01 year from the date on which the possession is taken, interest at the rate of 15% per annum shall be payable from the date of expiry of the period of 01 year on the amount of compensation or part thereof, which has not been paid or deposited before the date of such expiry.
4. In the instant case, there is no dispute about the fact that the possession of the land in question has been taken prior to making of the award and hence interest under Section 80 was payable on the amount awarded by the Collector. In the original award dated 12.02.2021, the said amount of interest at the rate of 9% and 15% under Section 80 was not included. The result is that the petitioner had to approach this Court for grant of statutory interest which has been awarded vide judgment and order dated 03.01.2025. However, the competent authority has committed an error in making computation towards interest under Section 80 which was leviable at the rate of 15% per annum after one year from the Page 4 of 5 Uploaded by A. B. VAGHELA(HC01079) on Fri Aug 01 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Aug 02 00:38:19 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/10314/2025 ORDER DATED: 29/07/2025 undefined date of payment or deposit of the compensation amount. As there was a shortfall in the initial payments made to the petitioner under the award dated 12.02.2021, computation of interest at the rate of 15% on the awarded amount is required to be made from the date when the payments were made under the award dated 12.02.2021 till the date when the payments are made under the amended award dated 19.02.2025, namely the interest at the rate of 15% on the shortfall is to be computed from the period from 15.07.2021 to 28.03.2025 and is to be paid to the petitioner without any further delay, as it would further cause prejudice to the acquiring body.
5. The process of determination of the shortfall towards interest under Section 15 shall be completed as expeditiously as possible within the period of two weeks from today, failing which the interest would continue to accrue uptil the date of payment of compensation. The petition stands disposed of, accordingly.
(SUNITA AGARWAL, CJ ) (D.N.RAY,J) A. B. VAGHELA Page 5 of 5 Uploaded by A. B. VAGHELA(HC01079) on Fri Aug 01 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Aug 02 00:38:19 IST 2025