Gujarat High Court
Patel Kanubhai Ishawarlal vs Mehsana Municipality, Mehsana on 1 November, 2023
Bench: Aniruddha P. Mayee
NEUTRAL CITATION
C/SCA/16665/2020 ORDER DATED: 01/11/2023
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 16665 of 2020
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PATEL KANUBHAI ISHAWARLAL & 14 other(s)
Versus
MEHSANA MUNICIPALITY, MEHSANA & 3 other(s)
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Appearance:
for the Petitioner(s) No. 9.1
DECEASED LITIGANT for the Petitioner(s) No. 9
DELETED for the Petitioner(s) No. 3,5
MR. AUM M KOTWAL(7320) for the Petitioner(s) No.
1,10,11,12,13,14,15,2,4,6,7,8,9.2,9.3
MS SHREE KOTWAL(11177) for the Petitioner(s) No.
1,10,11,12,13,14,15,2,4,6,7,8
MR KRUTIK PARIKH AGP for the Respondent(s) No. 2
MR DEEPAK SANCHELA for the Respondent(s) No. 1
MR SIDDHARTH H DAVE(5306) for the Respondent(s) No. 1
RULE SERVED for the Respondent(s) No. 2
RULE SERVED BY DS for the Respondent(s) No. 3,4
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CORAM:HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE MRS. JUSTICE
SUNITA AGARWAL
and
HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ANIRUDDHA P. MAYEE
Date : 01/11/2023
ORAL ORDER
(PER : HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE MRS. JUSTICE SUNITA AGARWAL)
1. Heard the learned counsels for the parties.
2. The petitioners herein claim the reliefs in the following
nature:-
"(B) Your Lordship(s) be pleased to direct the Mehsana
Municipality to abide the Award dated 27.01.2020
passed by the Prant Officer, Mehsana;
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C/SCA/16665/2020 ORDER DATED: 01/11/2023
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(C) Your Lordship(s) may be pleased to issue the writ
of mandamus or any other writ of that nature, direction
and/or order for implementation of the Award dated
27.01.2020 passed by the Prant Officer, Mehsana;
(D) Your Lordship(s) may be pleased to issue the writ
of mandamus and/or certiorari to any other writ of that
nature, direction and/or order to quash and set aside the
Resolution dated 03.12.2019 and along with the
Resolutions dated 29.07.2020 passed by the Mehsana
Municipality, Mehsana."
3. The dispute in the present petition is with respect to the
payment of compensation to the petitioners under the award dated
27.01.2020 with respect to the land in question belonging to the
petitioners, the description of which has been given in paragraph 3
of the writ petition as under :-.
"The petitioner No.1 to 3 are Land Owners of the land
situated at Survey No.50 and Petitioners No.4 to 15 are
Land owners of the land situated near Dhobhigat,
towards GEB Road, DP Road at Survey No.1078 of Village
Mehsana, Taluka Mehsana.".
4. There is no dispute about the fact that the Prant Officer,
Mehsana, had passed the award dated 27.01.2020 under Section
23A of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land
Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, inserted by
Section 4 of Gujarat Act No.12 of 2016, which reads as under :-
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C/SCA/16665/2020 ORDER DATED: 01/11/2023
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"23A. Award of Collector without enquiry in case
of agreement of interested persons:-
(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 23,
if at any stage of the proceedings, the Collector is
satisfied that all the persons interested in the land who
appeared before him have agreed in writing on the
matters to be included in the award of the Collector in
the form prescribed by rules made by the State
Government, he may, without making further enquiry,
make an award according to the terms of such
agreement.
(2) The determination of compensation for any land
under sub-section (i) shall not in any way affect the
determination of compensation in respect of other lands
in the same locality or elsewhere in accordance with the
other provisions of this Act.
(3) Notwithstanding anything contained, in the
Registration Act, 1908 (16 of1908), no agreement made
under sub-section (1) shall be liable to registration under
that Act."
5. It seems that the consent award dated 27.01.2020 is sought
to be assailed by the respondent No.1 Mehsana Municipality, i. e.
the acquiring body by filing Special Civil Application No.1486 of
2023, which has been disposed of vide judgment and order dated
07.03.2023, giving liberty to the Municipality to avail the remedy
under Section 64 of the Right to Fair Compensation and
Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement
Act, 2013.
6. In any case, the stand of the Municipality is that the rate at
which the compensation has been awarded to the petitioners by the
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C/SCA/16665/2020 ORDER DATED: 01/11/2023
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Prant Officer is an outcome of illegality committed by it and further,
there is a resolution of the Municipality to recall the consent given
before the Prant Officer in the award dated 27.01.2020. There is
also is a resolution of the Municipality dated 03.12.2019 to withdraw
the consent given by it in the year 2015, and the said resolution has
further been reiterated on 29.07.2020. Be that as it may, it is an
admitted fact of the matter that the land in question had been
acquired for the work already carried out by the Municipality, i. e.
the acquiring body. The acquisition notification under Section 10A of
the Land Acquisition Act was issued on 05.12.2018 and the
notification under Section 11 of the Land Acquisition Act was issued
on 16.10.2019. The notification under Section 19 was issued on
19.08.2020. It may be noted that the resolution No.223 dated
27.01.2015 had been passed by the Mehsana Municipality to decide
the amount of compensation in view of utilization of the parcels of
land owned by the petitioners for the purposes of Municipality. On
the request made by the Mehsana Municipality, vide letter dated
29.04.2017, pursuant to the aforesaid resolution, the proceedings
for acquisition of the land belonging to the petitioners had been
initiated.
7. From the above, it is more than evident that the acquisition
proceedings have been brought to its logical conclusion with the
passing of the award dated 27.01.2020, which is a consent award
within the meaning of Section 23A of the Act, 2013, inserted by
Gujarat Act No.12 of 2016. The consent award, in any case, cannot
be challenged by the Municipality by invoking the provisions of
Section 64 of the Act, 2013, in as much as, the said provisions
confer right on the "person interested" to challenge the award
passed by the Collector, who refuses to accept the same. The
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Municipality would not fall within the meaning of "person
interested" as defined under Section 3(x) of the Act, 2013.
8. For the aforesaid, the submission of the learned counsel for
the Municipality that the Municipality had revoked its earlier consent
by resolution dated 03.12.2019 prior to making of the award dated
27.01.2020 will not be of any consequence. In so far as the
contention of the learned counsel for the Municipality that the road,
for which the land in question has been acquired, had been
constructed in the year 1986 and the petitioners did not make any
objection to the same, it is to reiterate that after agitation made by
the petitioners, the Municipality had passed the resolution dated
27.01.2015 and the subsequent proceedings for acquisition of land
by issuance of notifications dated 05.12.2018 and 16.10.2019 had
been initiated at the instance of the Municipality so as to determine
just compensation for the petitioners for illegal deprivation of their
land and property without any due process of law.
9. On all the above noted counts, we are of the considered view
that the respondents have no option, but to pay the compensation
to the land owners/petitioners under the award dated 27.01.2020
passed by the Prant Officer, Mehsana. We, therefore, dispose of the
present petition with the observation that it is open for the
petitioners to move an application along with the copy of this order
for disbursement of compensation under the award dated
27.01.2020. On such application being filed within a period of four
weeks from today, the competent authority shall be under an
obligation to make an inquiry as to the entitlement of the petitioners
to the compensation amount and disburse compensation to all
persons interested in the land, strictly in accordance with the law,
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C/SCA/16665/2020 ORDER DATED: 01/11/2023
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by giving due notice and opportunity to all concerned. In any case,
the entire proceedings with respect to the disbursement of
compensation shall be concluded within a period of three months
from the date of the receipt of the application.
10. The present petition is disposed of, accordingly.
(SUNITA AGARWAL, CJ )
(ANIRUDDHA P. MAYEE, J.)
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