Devdan Nagdan vs State Of Gujarat
2023 Latest Caselaw 1555 Guj

     C/FA/572/2023                              ORDER DATED: 14/02/2023




          IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD

                     R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 572 of 2023
                                 With
                     R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 574 of 2023
                                 With
                     R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 575 of 2023

================================================================
                           DEVDAN NAGDAN
                                Versus
                          STATE OF GUJARAT
================================================================
Appearance:
MR NITIN M AMIN(126) for the Appellant(s) No. 1
MR SANJAY M AMIN(130) for the Appellant(s) No. 1
for the Defendant(s) No. 2
MR PRANAV DHAGAT, AGP for the Defendant(s) No. 1
================================================================

 CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE A.Y. KOGJE

                            Date : 14/02/2023

                         COMMON ORAL ORDER

1. ADMIT. With the consent of the learned advocate for the appellants as well as the learned AGP, all the three First Appeals are taken up for final hearing and disposal forthwith in view of the issue which arises in the present Appeals.

2. From the pleadings, it appears that the appeals have been preferred against the judgments and awards dated 23.1.2018 passed by the Principal Senior Civil Judge (Reference Court) at Junagadh in Land Acquisition Reference Cases Nos.1455 of 1999, 1456 of 1999 and 1457 of 1999 respectively.

3. From the perusal of the impugned judgments and awards, it appears that the only reason assigned is that the claimants

C/FA/572/2023 ORDER DATED: 14/02/2023

have failed to produce evidence for a long time and thereafter from 1.1.2018 the right to produce evidence was closed and thereafter by a short order of one paragraph the appeals were dismissed on the ground of lack of evidence in support of the claim.

4. Learned advocate for the appellants has referred to several decisions of this Court, namely, First Appeal No.2499 of 2018 and allied matters decided on 28.8.2018, wherein in an identical fact situation, the first appeals came to be allowed and the matters were remanded back to the Reference Court for fresh consideration on merits with an opportunity to the appellants to lead evidence. Reliance is also placed on a group of first appeals being First Appeals Nos.2991 of 2019 and allied matters decided on 15.7.2019, wherein also the same modality has been adopted by remanding the matters back to the Reference Court for fresh consideration on merits with an opportunity to the claimants to lead documentary evidence in support of their claim.

5. Having considered the submissions made by the rival parties and having perused the documents on record, the impugned award is a two-page award, wherein only on the ground of unable to produce any evidence, the reference has been rejected. From the pleadings, it is apparent that the appellants are now in a position to lead the evidence.

6. It appears that the acquisition pertains to the construction of Small Irrigation Project at Ratda, for which Section 4 Notification was issued on 19.6.1995 for village Rajavad. The order below Section 11 is dated 15.1.1997. Against which, the

C/FA/572/2023 ORDER DATED: 14/02/2023

reference was made before the Principal Senior Civil Judge at Junagadh.

7. Considering the aforesaid fact situation, the Court deems it fit to remand the matters back to the Principal Senior Civil Judge at Junagadh, and as sufficient time has passed, the Reference Court may issue notice to each of the claimants, and after providing opportunity of leading evidence in support of their claim, the Principal Senior Civil Judge may proceed to decide the references afresh in accordance with law.

8. While passing this order, the Court also observes that while condoning the delay in preparing the present First Appeals, in order dated 3.2.2023, this Court has observed as under :

"Delay of 1027 days which has occurred in preferring First Appeal challenging judgement and award dated 23.01.2018 passed by the learned Principal Senior Civil Judge (Reference Court), Junagadh in Land Acquisition Reference Cases No. 1455 of 1999, 1456 of 1999 and 1457 of 2022 is condoned on the condition that the claimants shall not be entitled to interest on any enhanced amount for the period of delay that may be granted either by this Court in the first appeal or the learned Reference Court as the case may be considering that the orders in references are not passed on merits."

9. With the aforesaid, the Appeals are allowed.

(A.Y. KOGJE, J.) /MOINUDDIN