Gujarat High Court
Patel Pranbhai Samjibhai vs Special Land Acquisition Officer on 31 July, 2025
NEUTRAL CITATION
C/FA/465/2010 JUDGMENT DATED: 31/07/2025
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 465 of 2010
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 466 of 2010
FOR APPROVAL AND SIGNATURE:
HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE HEMANT M. PRACHCHHAK
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Approved for Reporting Yes No
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PATEL PRANBHAI SAMJIBHAI & ANR.
Versus
SPECIAL LAND ACQUISITION OFFICER & ANR.
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Appearance:
MR KM SHETH(838) for the Appellant(s) No. 1,2
MS ROSHNI PATEL AGP for the Defendant(s) No. 1
MR AJAY R MEHTA(453) for the Defendant(s) No. 2
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE HEMANT M.
PRACHCHHAK
Date : 31/07/2025
ORAL JUDGMENT
1. These appeals are filed by the appellants - claimants under Section 54 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter be referred to as "the Act") r/w. Section 96 of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908 against the common judgment and award dated 22.07.2009 passed by the learned Third Joint District Judge, Page 1 of 4 Uploaded by V.R. PANCHAL(HC00171) on Sat Aug 02 2025 Downloaded on : Mon Aug 04 21:41:49 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/FA/465/2010 JUDGMENT DATED: 31/07/2025 undefined Mehsana (hereinafter be referred to as "the Reference Court") in Land Acquisition Reference Cases No.1677 of 2003 and 1678 of 2003 (main Land Acquisition Reference Case No.1677 of 2003) whereby whereby additional amount of Rs.47.03 per square meter has been awarded with other consequential benefits to the appellants / claimants. Notification Under Section 4 of the Act in respect of lands under acquisition was issued on 27.12.2001 and declaration under Section 6 of the Act was published on 10.12.2002. The Special Land Acquisition Officer under Section 11 of the Act, vide his award being Land Acquisition Case No.986 of 1997 (main) made under Section 11 of the Act, awarded Rs.28.00 to the appellants / claimants as compensation for acquired lands situated at Village: Karsanpura, Taluka: Kadi, District: Mehsana. Against such award, the appellants herein approached the Reference Court seeking claiming compensation of Rs.150.00 per square meter under Section 18 of the Act.
3. Heard Mr.K. M. Sheth, learned counsel appearing for the appellants, Ms.Roshni Patel, learned Assistant Government Pleader appearing for respondent No.1 and Mr.Ajay Mehta, learned counsel appearing for respondent No.2 at length. Perused the material placed on record.
4. Mr.Sheth, learned counsel appearing for the appellants has submitted that so far as Village: Meda - Adraj, Taluka: Kadi, District: Mehsana is concerned, the Coordinate Bench of this Court has fixed the market value at Rs.75.00 per square meter vide order dated 18.03.2024 in First Appeal No.4044 of 2009 and allied appeals considering the judgment and order dated 03.08.2015 passed by the Division Bench of this Court in First Page 2 of 4 Uploaded by V.R. PANCHAL(HC00171) on Sat Aug 02 2025 Downloaded on : Mon Aug 04 21:41:49 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/FA/465/2010 JUDGMENT DATED: 31/07/2025 undefined Appeal No.388 of 2010. He has submitted that since the Coordinate Bench of this Court has already decided the claim with regard to Village: Meda - Adraj, Taluka: Kadi, District:
Mehsana, he is restricted his arguments. He has urged that since the Coordinate Bench of this Court has already fixed market value of the lands situated at Village: Meda - Adraj at Rs.75.00 per square meter wherein Notification date was of 21.04.1999 considering 10% increase for each year in price escalation, 30% increase is required to be made in the amount awarded by the Court, so it comes to Rs.97.50 paise per square meter (Rs.75.00 + Rs.22.50) for which the otherside has no objection since in the appeals filed by the respondent No.2, this Court has already fixed the market price at Rs.75.00 per square meter.
5. Having considered the submissions and the impugned judgment and award, it is an undisputed fact that the lands situated at Village: Karsanpura, Taluka: Kadi, District: Mehsana were acquired by the respondents for the public purpose and the Notification under Section 4 of the Act was published on dated 27.12.2001 and declaration under Section 6 of the Act was published on 10.12.2002. The Land Acquisition Officer awarded compensation at the rate of 28.00 per square meter as against the claim of compensation at the rate of Rs.150/- per square meter. Against the award passed by the Land Acquisition Officer, the claimants have preferred Land Acquisition References before the Reference Court.
6. In view of the above aspects, the appeals are allowed in part. The additional amount of Rs.22.50 paise per square meter is to be awarded in addition to the amount awarded by the Page 3 of 4 Uploaded by V.R. PANCHAL(HC00171) on Sat Aug 02 2025 Downloaded on : Mon Aug 04 21:41:49 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/FA/465/2010 JUDGMENT DATED: 31/07/2025 undefined Reference Court and the Special Land Acquisition Officer. The appellants - claimants are entitled to get the additional amount of Rs.97.50 paise per square meter (including the amount of Rs.28.00 awarded by the Land Acquisition Officer + amount of Rs.47.00 paise awarded by the Reference Court + Rs.22.50 paise awarded by this Court) and the statutory benefits provided under the Act from the date of application till its realization.
Accordingly, the rest of the direction given by the Reference Court is upheld. The difference of the additional amount with statutory benefits shall be deposited by the respondents within a period of eight weeks from the date of receipt of the copy of this Court before the concerned Reference Court. On deposit of the the amount, the total amount of compensation shall be disbursed in favour of the claimants along with the interest and solatium i.e. statutory benefits after following due procedure and after verifying their bank details through RTGS / NEFT. Registry is directed to transmit back the record and proceedings to the concerned Reference Court forthwith. Pending civil application/s shall stand disposed of. Interim relief, if any, granted earlier stands vacated forthwith.
(HEMANT M. PRACHCHHAK,J) V.R. PANCHAL Page 4 of 4 Uploaded by V.R. PANCHAL(HC00171) on Sat Aug 02 2025 Downloaded on : Mon Aug 04 21:41:49 IST 2025