Gujarat High Court
Vrajlal Bavanji vs Gujarat Government on 11 August, 2023
Bench: Bhargav D. Karia
NEUTRAL CITATION
C/FA/3131/2023 JUDGMENT DATED: 11/08/2023
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 3131 of 2023
FOR APPROVAL AND SIGNATURE:
HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE BHARGAV D. KARIA
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1 Whether Reporters of Local Papers may be allowed
to see the judgment ?
2 To be referred to the Reporter or not ?
3 Whether their Lordships wish to see the fair copy
of the judgment ?
4 Whether this case involves a substantial question
of law as to the interpretation of the Constitution
of India or any order made thereunder ?
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VRAJLAL BAVANJI
Versus
GUJARAT GOVERNMENT
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Appearance:
MR KRUSHNAKANT D PATEL(10632) for the Appellant(s) No. 1
MR TEJAS P SATTA(3149) for the Appellant(s) No. 1
MS TANUSHREE SHRIMAL, AGP for the Defendant(s) No. 1
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE BHARGAV D. KARIA
Date : 11/08/2023
ORAL JUDGMENT
1.Heard learned Advocate Mr.Tejas P. Satta for
the appellant and learned AGP Ms.Tanushree
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Shrimal for the respondent-State.
2.Admit. Learned AGP Ms.Tanushree Shrimal
waives service of notice of admission on
behalf of the respondent-State.
3.By this appeal, the appellant has challenged
the Judgment and Decree passed by the
Principal Senior Civil Judge, Lalpur dated
29.06.2018 in Land Acquisition Reference
(LAR) Case Nos. 215/2006 in group LAR
Nos.203/2006 to 217/2006 (main LAR
No.203/2006) whereby the Reference Case was
rejected.
4.With consent of the learned advocates of
both the sides the First Appeal is taken up
for final disposal.
5.The land of the appellant-claimant situated
at Village:Sidsar, Taluka:Jamjodhpur and
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District:Jamnagar was acquired for the
purpose of Fulzar (KO.BA) Irrigation
Project.
6.A notification under Section 4 of the Land
Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short "the Act")
was published on 08.04.2005. The Special
Land Acquisition Officer by Award dated
17.11.2005 in Land Acquisition Case No.37 of
2003 awarded Rs.5/- per square meter.
7.Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the
award passed by the Special Land Acquisition
Officer, the appellant-claimant preferred
reference under Section 18 of the Act.
8.The Reference Court by the impugned Judgment
and Award dated 29.06.2018 dismissed the
claim petition filed by the appellant-
claimant as the claimant could not remain
present before the Court despite giving
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sufficient time and could not adduce any
evidence in support of the claim. It is
recorded by the Reference Court that notice
was issued to the claimant but thereafter
due to his absence, the evidence was closed
and the Reference Court therefore, held that
the claimant failed to prove his case.
9.In such circumstances, when the claimant has
remained absent to lead the evidence, the
claimant is not entitled to interest from
the date of impugned Judgment and Award till
the date of passing of this order.
10. In similar facts, the Coordinate Bench
vide order dated 29.06.2022 passed in First
Appeal Nos.1153 of 2022, 1177 of 2022, 1178
of 2022 and 1179 of 2022 remanded the matter
back to the Reference Court.
11. Considering the aforesaid decision of
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the Coordinate Bench, it appears that while
remanding the matter back, a view has been
taken that learned Reference Court will
decide the matters on its own merits taking
into consideration the documentary and oral
evidence on record as well as the additional
evidence which may be brought on record by
the parties.
12. Considering the view taken by the
Coordinate Bench in the similar facts in
other First Appeals, the impugned Judgment
and Award deserves to be interfered with as
the Reference Court could not have rejected
the Reference Case merely on the ground that
no evidence is led by the claimant-
appellant. The Reference Court ought to have
taken an independent decision relying upon
the necessary documents including the award
in question as well as other comparable sale
instances of the surrounding land, earlier
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award etc. passed with regard to the land in
the near vicinity.
13. Therefore in order to give a fair
opportunity to the appellant before the
Reference Court, the impugned Judgment and
Award dated 29.06.2018 passed by the learned
the Principal Senior Civil Judge, Lalpur in
Land Acquisition Reference (LAR) Case Nos.
215/2006 is hereby quashed and set aside so
as to give an opportunity to the appellant-
claimant to lead any evidence, if required,
but the appellant-claimant would not be
entitled to any interest for the period from
the date of impugned Judgment and Award of
the Reference Court till today i.e. from
29.06.2018 to 11.08.2023 on the enhanced
amount of compensation if any. It is further
directed that the Reference Court shall hear
and decide the Land Acquisition Reference
(LAR) Case Nos. 215/2006 after giving an
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opportunity to the appellant-claimant to
lead oral and documentary evidence. The
appellant-claimant is also directed to
cooperate with the Reference Court for
expeditious hearing of the Land Reference
Case. Such exercise shall be completed
within a period of six months from the date
of receipt of this order.
14. With the aforesaid observation and
direction, this appeal is partly allowed. No
order as to costs.
(BHARGAV D. KARIA, J)
PALAK
