Gujarat High Court
Project Manager vs Special Land Acquisition Officer on 10 October, 2025
NEUTRAL CITATION
C/FA/652/2009 JUDGMENT DATED: 10/10/2025
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 652 of 2009
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 653 of 2009
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 654 of 2009
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 655 of 2009
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 656 of 2009
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 657 of 2009
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 658 of 2009
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 659 of 2009
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 660 of 2009
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 661 of 2009
FOR APPROVAL AND SIGNATURE:
HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE HEMANT M. PRACHCHHAK Sd/-
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Approved for Reporting Yes No
✓
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PROJECT MANAGER
Versus
SPECIAL LAND ACQUISITION OFFICER & ORS.
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Appearance:
MR. YOGENDRA THAKORE(3975) for the Appellant(s) No. 1
MS ROSHNI PATEL AGP for the Defendant(s) No. 1
MR AV PRAJAPATI(672) for the Defendant(s) No. 2.1
RULE SERVED for the Defendant(s) No. 2.2,2.3,2.4,2.5
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE HEMANT M. PRACHCHHAK
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NEUTRAL CITATION
C/FA/652/2009 JUDGMENT DATED: 10/10/2025
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Date : 10/10/2025
COMMON ORAL JUDGMENT
1. In view of the fact that identical and similar issues are involved in the present appeals, all of them are being decided by this common judgment.
2. Present First Appeals are filed by the appellant - Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited against the common judgment and award dated 27.03.2008 passed by the learned 9th Additional Senior Civil Judge, Mehsana (hereinafter be referred to as the "Reference Court" in Land Acquisition Reference Case Nos. 4383 of 2003 to 4390 of 2003 and 4392 of 2003 to 4393 of 2003 (Main LAR No. 4383 of 2003) whereby, the Reference Court partly allowed the Reference filed by the respective respondents - original claimants and awarded Rs.33.00 ps. per square meter as additional compensation, over and above the compensation awarded by the Special Land Acquisition Officer.
3. The short facts giving rise to present appeals are that, the lands situated at Village Santhal, Taluka and District Mehsana were acquired for the public purpose of ONGC- Pilot Project. The notification under section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act was published on 31.12.1995 and declaration under section 6 of the Act was published on Page 2 of 8 Uploaded by SURESH SOLANKI(HC00208) on Thu Oct 16 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Oct 16 22:13:03 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/FA/652/2009 JUDGMENT DATED: 10/10/2025 undefined 16.08.1996. The Land Acquisition Officer, after issuing notice to the claimants and after hearing the claimants and considering the evidence led by the claimants, passed an award awarding compensation at the rate of Rs.3.20 ps. per sq. mtr. Being aggrieved by the award of the Land Acquisition Officer, the claimants sought References before the Reference Court by filing above mentioned reference cases.
3.1 The said reference cases were opposed by the opponent Nos. 1 and 2 by filing their written statement at Exhibit Nos.8 and 28.
3.2 The Reference Court after hearing the parties and after evaluating the evidence placed on record has framed issues in paragraph No.10 which reads as under:-
I Whether the compensation awarded by the land Acquisition Officer is not adequate ?
II What additional compensation claimants are entitled in Land Acquisition?
III What order and Award?
3.3 After framing the issues the Reference Court has answered the same in paragraph No.11 and dealt with the issues. After considering all the relevant material and documents placed on record before the Reference Court and after hearing the parties, the Reference Court partly allowed the References and awarded compensation of Page 3 of 8 Uploaded by SURESH SOLANKI(HC00208) on Thu Oct 16 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Oct 16 22:13:03 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/FA/652/2009 JUDGMENT DATED: 10/10/2025 undefined Rs.33.00 per sq. mtr., over and above the amount of compensation already awarded by the Special Land Acquisition Officer with 12% interest on additional amount of compensation.
3.4 Being aggrieved and dissatisfied with the aforesaid judgment and award passed by the Reference Court, the appellant ONGC has filed the present First Appeals under Section 54 of the Land Acquisition Act under Section 96 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
4. Heard learned advocate Mr.Yogendra Thakore, appearing for the appellant - ONGC, learned advocate Mr. A.V. Prajapati, appearing for the respondents original claimants and learned Assistant Government Pleader Ms. Roshni Patel, appearing for the Special Land Acquisition Officer.
5. Learned advocate Mr. Thakore, has submitted that the impugned judgment and award passed by the Reference Court is contrary to law and against the facts on record.
He has submitted that the amount of Rs.33.00 awarded by the Reference Court, over and above the compensation already awarded by the Special Land Acquisition Officer, is on higher side and unjust.
5.1 Learned advocate Mr. Thakore, has referred to and relied upon the judgment rendered in case of Reference Page 4 of 8 Uploaded by SURESH SOLANKI(HC00208) on Thu Oct 16 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Oct 16 22:13:03 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/FA/652/2009 JUDGMENT DATED: 10/10/2025 undefined preferred pertaining to village Balol and submitted that in that case, Section 4 notification was dated 4.10.1996 and in the present case, the date of notification is 31.12.1995 i.e. there is a gap of one year in issuance of both the notifications and in view of the same, 10% reduction per year is required to be considered which comes to total market value of Rs.30.6 per sq. mtr., however, in the present case, the Reference Court has awarded Rs.33/- per sq. mtr. which is on very higher side and thus, the same is required to be reduced to Rs.30.6 in total instead of Rs.33/-. Over and above the grounds agitated in the memo of appeal, learned advocate Mr. Thakore has urged that the present appeals are required to be allowed and the impugned judgment and award is required to be appropriately modified.
6. Per contra, Mr.Prajapati, learned counsel appearing for respondents1 - original claimants has submitted that the amount of compensation awarded by the Reference Court is just and proper and the Reference Court has awarded the amount after considering the facts of the case and after considering the evidence led before the Court and therefore, the impugned judgment and award passed by the Reference Court is just and proper and no interference is required to be called for in the present appeal and the present appeal be dismissed.
7. I have heard the learned advocates appearing for the Page 5 of 8 Uploaded by SURESH SOLANKI(HC00208) on Thu Oct 16 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Oct 16 22:13:03 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/FA/652/2009 JUDGMENT DATED: 10/10/2025 undefined respective parties and perused the material placed on record. I have also gone through the Record and Proceedings and the impugned judgment and award passed by the Reference Court.
8. Having heard the learned advocates for the respective parties and having gone through the impugned judgment and award passed by the Reference Court, this Court is of the view that the principal dispute revolves around the correct determination of market value of the acquired land on the date of notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act. It emerges from the record that in the earlier case pertaining to Village Balol, the notification under Section 4 was issued on 04.10.1996. In the present case of Village Santhal, the notification under Section 4 was issued on 31.12.1995, i.e., approximately 10 months prior to the Balol notification. As per settled principle, a year-to-year increase of 10% is applied to adjust the market value of land. It is also observed that as per the notification under Section 4 dated 31.07.1986, the market value of the land was determined to the extent of Rs.17/- per sq. mtr. Considering the gap of approximately eight years between the 1986 notification and the present 1995 notification, the cumulative increase would come to Rs.13.06, bringing the total market value to Rs.30.06 per sq. mtr. The compensation already awarded by the Land Acquisition Officer at Rs.3.20 per sq. mtr. is to be Page 6 of 8 Uploaded by SURESH SOLANKI(HC00208) on Thu Oct 16 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Oct 16 22:13:03 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/FA/652/2009 JUDGMENT DATED: 10/10/2025 undefined deducted, resulting in additional compensation of Rs.27.40 per sq. mtr. However, the Reference Court has awarded Rs.33/- per sq. mtr., which is excessive by Rs.5.60 per sq. mtr. Accordingly, the excess amount of Rs.5.60 per sq. mtr. shall be reduced and refunded to the appellant - ONGC.
9. In view of above, the respondent - original claimants are entitled for compensation to the tune of Rs.27.4 per sq. mtr. instead of Rs.33.00 per sq. mtr. along with all statutory benefits as awarded by the Reference Court and the excess amount (Rs.33/- - Rs.27.4/- = Rs.5.6/-) be refunded to the appellant.
10. The amount deposited by the appellant - ONGC before the Reference Court is to be disbursed in favour of the respondents - original claimants, after deducting the excess amount as aforesaid and the same shall be refunded to the appellant - ONGC alongwith interest accrued on it, after following due procedure through RTGS/NEFT.
11. In view of the aforesaid the impugned judgment and award dated 25.02.2008 passed by the learned 9th Additional Senior Civil Judge, Mehsana in Land Acquisition Reference Case Nos. 4383 of 2003 to 4390 of 2003 and 4392 of 2003 to 4393 of 2003 (Main LAR No. 4383 of 2003), is hereby modified to the aforesaid extent.
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12. Accordingly, the appeals are partly allowed. No order as to costs. Record and proceedings, if received, be sent back to the concerned Reference Court forthwith.
Sd/-
(HEMANT M. PRACHCHHAK,J) SURESH SOLANKI Page 8 of 8 Uploaded by SURESH SOLANKI(HC00208) on Thu Oct 16 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Oct 16 22:13:03 IST 2025