Gujarat High Court
Ranjitsinh Mamubha Jadeja vs State Of Gujarat on 20 April, 2026
NEUTRAL CITATION
C/SCA/15823/2025 ORDER DATED: 20/04/2026
undefined
IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 15823 of 2025
==========================================================
RANJITSINH MAMUBHA JADEJA
Versus
STATE OF GUJARAT & ORS.
==========================================================
Appearance:
MR ANAND R PATEL(2424) for the Petitioner(s) No. 1
MR VIJAY N RAVAL(2025) for the Petitioner(s) No. 1
MS DISHA KARKAR FOR AISHVARYA for the Respondent No. 3
MS HIMANI SHAH, AGP for the Respondent(s) No. 1,2
==========================================================
CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DIVYESH A. JOSHI
Date : 20/04/2026
ORAL ORDER
1. By filing present petition under Articles 14 and 226 of the Constitution of India as well as under the provision of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, the petitioner has challenged the order dated 26.08.2022 passed by the Presiding Officer, Land Acquisition & Rehabilitation & Resettlement Authority, Rajkot Zone, Rajkot in Misc. Application No.4/2021 and the order dated 24.09.2019 passed by the I/c. Deputy Collector & Special Land Acquisition Officer (Narmada Yojna), Gandhidham and thereby prayed for direction upon the respondent no.2 to make Reference of the application submitted by the petitioner dated 06.03.2018 filed under Section 64 of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013.
2. Heard learned advocate, Mr. Anand Patel for the petitioner, learned AGP Ms. Himani Shah for the respondent nos.1 and 2 and learned advocate, Ms. Page 1 of 6 Uploaded by LAVKUMAR J JANI(HC00210) on Tue Apr 21 2026 Downloaded on : Tue Apr 21 23:16:51 IST 2026 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/15823/2025 ORDER DATED: 20/04/2026 undefined Disha Karkar on behalf of learned advocate Ms. Aishvarya Gupta for the respondent no.3.
3. The facts of the case in nutshell are that the land bearing Survey No.289 admeasuring 14813 Sq.Mtrs. of Village Deshalpar, Taluka Mudra, District Kutch was proposed to be acquired by the respondents under the Narmada Yojna and accordingly, the Notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act was issued on 06.05.2013 and, thereafter, a Notification under Section 6 was issued on 23.07.2013 and, thereafter after following due procedure of law, final award was declared by the Deputy Collector and Special Land Acquisition Officer on 02.07.2015 under Section 11(1) of the Land Acquisition Act.
4. Learned advocate, Mr. Patel submitted that the respondent authorities ought to have passed award under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (hereinafter referred to as the "Act of 2013"), and the award is passed under the Old Act, which is contrary to the provisions of law. He submitted that subsequently, modified award came to be passed by the respondent no.2 on 21.11.2017, whereby Factor-2 was applied to the land in question, Page 2 of 6 Uploaded by LAVKUMAR J JANI(HC00210) on Tue Apr 21 2026 Downloaded on : Tue Apr 21 23:16:51 IST 2026 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/15823/2025 ORDER DATED: 20/04/2026 undefined and the benefits under Sections 30(1), 30(2) and 30(3) of the Act of 2013, also came to be granted on the enhanced amount of compensation. He submitted that thereafter, the respondent no.2 issued notice to the petitioner, which was duly received by him on 03.03.2018 and in receipt thereof, the petitioner has filed a Reference Application under Section 64 of the Act of 2013 to the respondent no.2 on 16.03.2018, however, the said Reference Application came to be filed by the respondents on the ground that the modified award was passed on 21.11.2017, which was a supplementary award to the original award and the original award was dated 02.07.2015 and therefore, the Reference Application under Section 64 of the Act of 2013 was filed beyond the period of limitation and accordingly, by impugned order dated 24.09.2019, the Presiding Officer, Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Authority, Rajkot Zone, Rajkot has rejected the said application, against which, aforesaid writ petition has been preferred.
5. Learned advocate submitted that in a similar case, the Division Bench of this Court, in Special Civil Application No.12417 of 2023 and other allied matters vide order dated 02.01.2024 has set aside such similar impugned orders and Page 3 of 6 Uploaded by LAVKUMAR J JANI(HC00210) on Tue Apr 21 2026 Downloaded on : Tue Apr 21 23:16:51 IST 2026 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/15823/2025 ORDER DATED: 20/04/2026 undefined remanded the applications under Section 64 of the Act of 2013 to the Deputy Collector and Special Land Acquisition Officer for referring the matter to the Competent Authority in accordance with the provisions of Section 64 of the Act of 2013.
6. Learned AGP Ms. Himani Shah has submitted that considering the above facts of the case, appropriate orders may be passed in the present case, since the time limit for preferring such an application under Section 64 of the Act of 2013 has been calculated from the date of the original award.
7. Having heard the learned advocates appearing for the parties, considered the submissions and perused the documents on record, it is found out that the application of the petitioner under Section 64 of the Act of 2013 has been rejected by the Presiding Officer, Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Authority, Rajkot Zone, Rajkot, on the ground that the application is barred by limitation as the same has been filed beyond limitation since the original award has been passed on 02.07.2015. Further, it was also held that applicant has not paid the Court Fee.
8. However, it is an admitted fact that the Page 4 of 6 Uploaded by LAVKUMAR J JANI(HC00210) on Tue Apr 21 2026 Downloaded on : Tue Apr 21 23:16:51 IST 2026 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/15823/2025 ORDER DATED: 20/04/2026 undefined original award was declared on 02.07.2015 and, thereafter, the valuation of land acquired has been finally decided by a modified award by applying Factor-2 since the acquired land pertained to Rural area and accordingly, modified award came to be passed on 21.11.2017. Further, the notice came to be issued to the petitioner by respondent no.2 which was received by him on 03.03.2018 informing about the payment of compensation as per the modified award. Thereafter, the petitioner has preferred an application under Section 64 of the Act of 2013, by sending the same through RPAD, which was received by the respondent no.2 on 16.03.2018. It is now well settled that an award under the Land Acquisition Act is an offer given by the State Government to the land owners for depriving them of their lands. The initial award dated 02.07.2015 came to be modified by subsequent award dated 21.11.2017 and therefore, the original award has merged with the modified award. The limitation as prescribed under sub- section 2 of Section 64 of the Act of 2013 would start from the date of making of such modified award, which is dated 21.11.2017. Thus, the competent authority under the Act of 2013 has erred in computing the limitation from the date of the original award i.e. 02.07.2015 and in rejecting the application of the petitioner Page 5 of 6 Uploaded by LAVKUMAR J JANI(HC00210) on Tue Apr 21 2026 Downloaded on : Tue Apr 21 23:16:51 IST 2026 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/15823/2025 ORDER DATED: 20/04/2026 undefined under Section 64 of the Act of 2013. Therefore, the matter deserves to be remanded back.
9. In the circumstances, the impugned order dated 26.08.2022 passed by the Presiding Officer, Land Acquisition & Rehabilitation & Resettlement Authority, Rajkot Zone, Rajkot in Misc. Application No.4/2021 and the order dated 24.09.2019 passed by the I/c. Deputy Collector & Special Land Acquisition Officer (Narmada Yojna), Gandhidham are hereby quashed and set aside. It is directed that respondent no.2, Deputy Collector and Special Land Acquisition Officer shall compute the limitation in respect of the petitioner herein under Section 64 of the Act of 2013 from the date of modified award i.e. 21.11.2017 and shall refer the case to the competent authority strictly in accordance with the provisions of Section 64 of the Act of 2013, in a time bound manner, preferably within a period of 4 weeks from the date receipt of this order.
10. With the above observations and directions, the present petition stands disposed of. Direct service is permitted.
(DIVYESH A. JOSHI,J) LAVKUMAR J JANI Page 6 of 6 Uploaded by LAVKUMAR J JANI(HC00210) on Tue Apr 21 2026 Downloaded on : Tue Apr 21 23:16:51 IST 2026