Gujarat High Court
Laxmiben Dhanabhai Soheliya vs Special Land Acquisition Officer on 7 July, 2025
NEUTRAL CITATION
C/CA/2722/2025 ORDER DATED: 07/07/2025
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/CIVIL APPLICATION (FOR CONDONATION OF DELAY) NO. 2722 of
2025
In F/FIRST APPEAL NO. 27044 of 2021
With
R/CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 2727 of 2025
In
F/FIRST APPEAL NO. 27046 of 2021
With
R/CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 2751 of 2025
In
F/FIRST APPEAL NO. 27042 of 2021
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LAXMIBEN DHANABHAI SOHELIYA & ORS.
Versus
SPECIAL LAND ACQUISITION OFFICER & ORS.
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Appearance:
MR KRUSHNAKANT D PATEL(10632) for the Applicant(s) No.
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
MR TEJAS P SATTA(3149) for the Applicant(s) No. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
MR.RAHUL DAVE AGP for the Respondent(s) No. 1,2
RULE NOT RECD BACK for the Respondent(s) No. 3
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DEVAN M. DESAI
Date : 07/07/2025
COMMON ORAL ORDER
1. The present Civil Applications are filed under Section 5 of the Limitation Act,1963 for condonation of delay of 832 days caused in preferring the First Appeal.
2. Heard learned advocate Mr.Tejas Satta for the applicants and learned AGP Mr.Rahul Dave for the respondent - State.
3. Learned advocate for the applicants has submitted that the captioned First Appeals by challenging Page 1 of 4 Uploaded by MANOJ KUMAR(HC01092) on Fri Jul 11 2025 Downloaded on : Fri Jul 11 23:03:14 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/CA/2722/2025 ORDER DATED: 07/07/2025 undefined the judgment and decree dated 24.04.2019 and 01.05.2019 respectively in Land Acquisition Reference Case No.5/2003 in group of LAR No.1/2003 to 15/2003. It is further submitted that the time was consumed in having legal assistance from the concerned Advocates. The concerned Advocate informed the applicants in the month of December, 2020 about deposit of the amount of compensation by the respondent authority. Thereafter, amount of compensation was withdrawn by the applicants. It was found at that time by the applicant that amount of compensation which has been awarded is on lower side and therefore decided to challenge the impugned award. 3.1 It is further submitted that the present applicants are unaware of the provisions of law, which could permit him to file appeal, which is a statutory right. He has produced decision of the Hon'ble Apex Court in case of K. Subbarayadu and others Vs. The Special Deputy Collector (Land Acquisition) reported in 2017(12) SCC 840 and would submit that considering the law laid down in aforementioned case, the applicants are not claiming their right for the interest upon the enhanced compensation, if any, for the delay period.
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4. Per contra, learned AGP has opposed the applications and submitted that the reasons assigned in the applications are not sufficient for condoning the delay. It is further submitted that the compensation has been received by the claimants in the year 2020 and thereafter applicants remained silent and after receipt of compensation, challenge is made against impugned award.
5. I have considered the submissions canvassed by the learned advocates for the respective parties. It appears that the land in question is acquired by respondent/s vide Notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act which was published on 09.03.2000 and notification under Section 6 was published on 27.07.2000. The land in question was acquired for the purpose of irrigation and claimants have lost their land for the purpose of irrigation. The claimants being agriculturist and having lost their land in acquisition proceedings, the claimants being aggrieved and dissatisfied with the award of compensation has challenged the impugned award. However, considering the submissions canvassed by the learned advocate for the applicants that applicants shall go and let go interest of Page 3 of 4 Uploaded by MANOJ KUMAR(HC01092) on Fri Jul 11 2025 Downloaded on : Fri Jul 11 23:03:14 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/CA/2722/2025 ORDER DATED: 07/07/2025 undefined the delayed period, delay is condoned.
6. In background of the facts of the present case as well as considering the law laid down by the Hon'ble Apex Court in case of K. Subbarayadu (Supra), the application seeking condonation of delay deserves consideration. However, the claimant(s) would not be entitled to claim interest on the enhanced amount of compensation, if any, during the delay period.
7. In the result, present Civil Applications are allowed and delay caused in preferring captioned First Appeal is hereby condoned. However it is made clear that the claimant/s shall waive the claim of interest for the period of delay caused in preferring the First Appeal on enhanced amount of award if any. Rule is made absolute. No order as to costs.
8. Registry shall place a copy of this order in each matter.
(D. M. DESAI,J) MANOJ Page 4 of 4 Uploaded by MANOJ KUMAR(HC01092) on Fri Jul 11 2025 Downloaded on : Fri Jul 11 23:03:14 IST 2025