Gujarat High Court
Deputy Collector Land Acquisition And ... vs Khant Pujabhai Hemabhai (Deceased ... on 11 November, 2025
Author: A.Y. Kogje
Bench: A.Y. Kogje
NEUTRAL CITATION
C/CA/1560/2019 ORDER DATED: 11/11/2025
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/CIVIL APPLICATION (FOR CONDONATION OF DELAY) NO. 1560 of
2019
In F/FIRST APPEAL NO. 9830 of 2019
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DEPUTY COLLECTOR LAND ACQUISITION AND REHABILITATION
OFFICER & ORS.
Versus
KHANT PUJABHAI HEMABHAI (DECEASED THROUGH LEGAL HEIRS) &
ORS.
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Appearance:
MS POOJA CHAUDHARY, ASST.GOVERNMENT PLEADER for the
Applicant(s) No. 1,2,3
DECEASED LITIGANT THROUGH LEGAL HEIRS/ REPRESTENTATIVES
for the Respondent(s) No. 1,2,3
RULE SERVED for the Respondent(s) No.
1.2,2.2,2.3,2.4,2.5,2.6,3.1,3.2,3.3,3.4,3.5,3.6,3.7
UNSERVED EXPIRED (R) for the Respondent(s) No. 1.3,1.4,2.1
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE A.Y. KOGJE
and
HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE J. L. ODEDRA
Date : 11/11/2025
ORAL ORDER
(PER : HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE A.Y. KOGJE)
1. This application is filed by the applicants under Section 5 of the Limitation Act for condoning the delay of 390 days in preferring the First Appeal.
2. Learned advocate has drawn attention of this Court to the contents of para-2 to 4 of the application, wherein it stated that the judgement was pronounced on 26.10.2017 and the applicants had applied for the certified copy of the Page 1 of 4 Uploaded by EZHURHASSAN SUDHIR ACHUTHAN(HC00192) on Thu Nov 13 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Nov 13 22:48:51 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/CA/1560/2019 ORDER DATED: 11/11/2025 undefined judgement on the same day. The certified copy was ready on 23.11.2017. Learned advocate has submitted that after receipt of the certified copy of the judgement and award, the concerned Government Pleader of the district had submitted his opinion for preferring appeal and thereafter on 05.04.2018 the Superintending Engineer, Ahmedabad Irrigation Project had submitted proposal which was received by the concerned department on 20.04.2018, whereby the file for put up for granting approval for placing the case before the Land Acquisition Committee on 27.04.2018 and pursuant to which the State Government through Narmada Water Resources, Water Supply and Kalpsar Department had on 01.05.2018 given permission to place the case before the Land Acquisition Committee. On 21.05.2018, the Committee had approved the case for preferring appeal before this Court and in view of the same, the concerned department had taken decision to place the case before the Revenue and Legal Departments of the State Government for further approval. Pursuant to the same, on 30.06.2018, the Revenue Department had granted permission for preferring appeal with an instruction to submit the file before the Legal Department. The Legal Department on 05.07.2018 granted permission for preferring appeal and the said instruction was forwarded to Additional Engineer on 16.07.2018 with an instruction to contact the office of the Government Pleader to initiate further procedure for preferring First Appeal before this Court. The office of the Government Pleader received file on 01.07.2018 to prefer appeal without Page 2 of 4 Uploaded by EZHURHASSAN SUDHIR ACHUTHAN(HC00192) on Thu Nov 13 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Nov 13 22:48:51 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/CA/1560/2019 ORDER DATED: 11/11/2025 undefined certified copy of the judgement and award. Therefore, the office of the Government Pleader had sent a fax on 20.07.2018 to the present applicants to supply the certified copy of the judgement and award. Thereafter, on 10.09.2018, the certified copy was provided to the Office of the Government Pleader. Thereafter, a draft of First Appeal was prepared and sent for approval. After approval and in receipt of relevant typed copies of the documents, the First Appeal was filed before this Court.
3. Therefore, learned Assistant Government Pleader has drawn attention of this Court to the reasons for which delay has occurred.
4. Considering the aforesaid, particularly, period of 390 days of delay, the Court is of the view that considering the facts involved in the case, delay cannot be treated as inordinate.
5. Considering the submissions and the contents of the paras mentioned hereinabove, the delay is also explained sufficiently.
6. A reference in this regard may be made to the judgment of the Supreme Court in case of Sheo Raj Singh (Deceased) through Legal Representatives and others vs/. Union of India and Another, (2023) 10 SCC 531, wherein the term "Sufficient Cause" was interpreted and the approach of Courts while deciding application for condonation of delay was discussed.
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7. In view of the aforesaid, the application is allowed. The delay of 390 days caused in preferring the First Appeal is hereby condoned. Rule is made absolute to the aforesaid extent. Registry is directed to list the main appeal in due course.
(A.Y. KOGJE, J) (J. L. ODEDRA, J) SUDHIR Page 4 of 4 Uploaded by EZHURHASSAN SUDHIR ACHUTHAN(HC00192) on Thu Nov 13 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Nov 13 22:48:51 IST 2025