Gujarat High Court
L H Of Bava Meghnathi Bhimgar Hiragar vs State Of Gujarat on 10 October, 2025
NEUTRAL CITATION
C/FA/3575/2025 ORDER DATED: 10/10/2025
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 3575 of 2025
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L H OF BAVA MEGHNATHI BHIMGAR HIRAGAR & ORS.
Versus
STATE OF GUJARAT & ANR.
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Appearance:
MR. BHAUMIK DHOLARIYA(7009) for the Appellant(s) No. 1,1.1,1.2,1.3
MR RAHUL DAVE, AGP for the Defendant(s) No. 1,2
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DEVAN M. DESAI
Date : 10/10/2025
ORAL ORDER
1. The captioned First Appeal is filed by the appellants- heirs of original claimants against the judgment and award dated 14.10.2024 passed by the learned Additional Senior Civil Judge, Porbandar in LAR No.17 of 2019, wherein the learned Judge had dismissed the reference case.
2. Heard learned advocate Mr. Bhaumik Dholariya for the appellants-original claimant(s) and learned AGP Mr. Rahul Dave for the respondent -State.
3. Brief facts of the present case are as under:-
3.1 The land of the appellants bearing Revenue Survey No.42/2 situated at Village: Ishvariya Taluka & Dist.: Porbandar Page 1 of 5 Uploaded by RINKU MALI(HC01574) on Fri Oct 10 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Oct 11 12:50:28 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/FA/3575/2025 ORDER DATED: 10/10/2025 undefined was acquired by the respondent - authority for a public purpose of Vartu-2 Irrigation Scheme. The respondent-authority awarded meager amount of compensation for acquired land.
Therefore, present appellant/s filed an application under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 for enhancement of compensation. After considering the evidence available on record, learned Additional Senior Civil Judge dismissed the reference cases as claimant/s remained absent and did not lead any evidence.
3.2 Being aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned judgment and order, appellants are before this Court.
4. Learned advocate for the appellant/s submitted that Reference Case of the appellant/s came to be dismissed for non- appearance of the appellant/s and their respective Advocate by learned Additional Senior Civil Judge, Porbandar. 4.1 It is further submitted that the land of appellant/s as stated hereinabove was acquired by the respondent - authority for a Page 2 of 5 Uploaded by RINKU MALI(HC01574) on Fri Oct 10 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Oct 11 12:50:28 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/FA/3575/2025 ORDER DATED: 10/10/2025 undefined public purpose of Vartu- 2 Irrigation Scheme. The respondent - authority awarded meager compensation for acquired land. Reference case of the claimant/s was forwarded by competent authority to the learned District Court, Jamnagar. Thereafter, Reference case came to be transferred to Principal Senior Civil Court, Khambhaliya in the year 2009, and in the year 2018, the learned Principal Senior Civil Judge, Devbhumi Dwarka at Khambhaliya returned the land reference case to the appellant/s to be presented before the competent Court. Thereafter reference case was filed before the learned Principal Senior Civil Judge, Porbandar in the year 2019. Notices came to be issued to the parties. Issues were framed on 05.10.2024. 4.2 Learned advocate for the appellant/s submitted that claimants shall not claim any interest on the additional compensation, if awarded, that is on date when issues came to be framed i.e. 05.10.2024 in LAR Case, till today.
5. Per contra, learned AGP has opposed to the said request Page 3 of 5 Uploaded by RINKU MALI(HC01574) on Fri Oct 10 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Oct 11 12:50:28 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/FA/3575/2025 ORDER DATED: 10/10/2025 undefined and contended that the claimant/s were given ample opportunity, despite that claimant/s remained absent resultantly reference case came to be dismissed. It appears from the impugned judgment that the claimant did not lead any evidence, and the reference case came to be dismissed for want of evidence. It is further submitted that the claimants-appellant/s shall not be entitled for any interest.
6. I have considered the submissions canvassed by learned advocates for the respective parties and in view of the aforesaid facts and circumstances, it would be in the interest of justice that the impugned judgment and order dated 14.10.2024 passed by the learned Additional Senior Civil Judge, Porbandar in LAR No.17 of 2019 in captioned First Appeal, is hereby quashed set aside. And reference case is remanded back to the Reference Court for fresh adjudication on merits after giving due opportunity of hearing to both the sides. The learned Reference Court shall decide the matters on its own merits. The parties are Page 4 of 5 Uploaded by RINKU MALI(HC01574) on Fri Oct 10 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Oct 11 12:50:28 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/FA/3575/2025 ORDER DATED: 10/10/2025 undefined directed to remain present before the learned Reference Court. No fresh notice be issued to claimant/s. Both parties are permitted to lead evidence in support of their cases. The learned Reference Court shall decide the reference cases as expeditiously as possible preferably within a period of three months from the date of receipt of this order. Both parties shall give full Corporation to the learned reference Court in expeditious hearing.
7. Appellant/s-claimant/s shall not be entitled for any interest from the date of framing of issue in LAR Case till the date of passing of this order i.e. 10.10.2025.
8. In view of above, captioned First Appeal stands disposed of accordingly.
9. Record and proceedings, if any, received, be sent back to the concerned Court/Tribunal.
(D. M. DESAI,J) RINKU MALI Page 5 of 5 Uploaded by RINKU MALI(HC01574) on Fri Oct 10 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Oct 11 12:50:28 IST 2025