Gujarat High Court
Devabhai Sajanbhai Odedara vs Deputy Collector on 19 February, 2024
NEUTRAL CITATION
C/FA/143/2024 ORDER DATED: 19/02/2024
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 143 of 2024
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DEVABHAI SAJANBHAI ODEDARA
Versus
DEPUTY COLLECTOR & ANR.
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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
for the Defendant(s) No. 2
MR ADITYA D DAVDA, AGP ADVANCE COPY SERVED TO GOVERNMENT
PLEADER/PP for the Defendant(s) No. 1
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DEVAN M. DESAI
Date : 19/02/2024
ORAL ORDER
1. Learned advocate for the appellant has placed on record copy
of the order dated 05/09/2023 passed in First Appeal No.3703 of
2023 by the Coordinate Bench of this Court, which is taken on
record.
2. Learned Advocate for the appellants Mr.Tejas Satta has
invited the attention of this Court to an order dated 05/09/2023
passed in First Appeal No.3703 of 2023 which was passed in the
matter belonging to the same group. In that the learned Court put
reliance upon order dated 27.09.2022 passed in First Appeal
No.3625 of 2022 and allied matters and submits that in the present
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case also the impugned judgment and order rejecting the reference
has been passed only on the ground that the claimants were unable to
adduce any evidence even after affording ample opportunity. He has
further submitted that one more opportunity may be given to the
appellants to adduce the evidence as per the observations made in
paragraph 5 of the order dated 27.09.2022 passed in First Appeal
No.3625 of 2022 and allied matter . He further submits that for
intervening period i.e. from the date of judgment till passing of this
order by this Court, in the present appeal also, the appellants-
claimants will not claim any interest.
3. Learned AGP, on the contrary, has submitted that the order
passed by the Court below is appropriate since the same reflects that
despite giving ample opportunities to the claimants, the appellants
did not adduce any evidence until the issues were framed and right
to evidence was closed. It is submitted that the burden is raised on
the appellants/claimants to prove their case in the case of claiming
the compensation and hence, no order may be passed.
4. Heard the learned advocates for the respective parties and also
perused the documents as pointed out by them.
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5. In paragraph 4, the reference of order dated 27.09.2022 passed
in First Appeal No.3625 of 2022 and allied matters have been made
wherein paragraph 5, the co-ordinate Bench has made following
observations:
"5. The appellants have placed reliance on the order dated
29.06.2022 passed by the Coordinate Bench of this Court in First
Appeal No.862 of 2022 and allied matters, on the similar issue,
whereby the reference Court has rejected the reference
application on the ground that the appellants-claimants did not
produce any evidence despite giving ample opportunities to
them. The Coordinate Bench of this Court has observed thus:
"6. In view of above, this Court is of the opinion that in the land
reference cases, it is the duty of the learned reference Court to go
into the issue of awarding compensation and to assess the same
for its adequacy in the background that the claimants have lost
possession of their land. In the present case, no such exercise has
been undertaken by the learned reference Court. In the premise,
the impugned judgment and orders are hereby set aside and the
matters are remanded back to the learned reference Court for
determining the entitlement of the land owners to just,
reasonable and adequate compensation, which can be
determined only after examining the evidence adduced by the
parties. 05/09/2023 the interest of justice, the present appellants
deserve an opportunity to produce additional evidence in respect
of their entitlement to adequate compensation. 6.1 Accordingly,
all the First Appeals are hereby allowed. The impugned common
judgment and order is hereby quashed and set aside and the
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matter is remanded to the learned reference Court for fresh
consideration in accordance with law with a liberty in favour of
the parties to adduce oral as well as documentary evidence in
support of their case.
6.2 The parties are directed to adduce their evidence within 6
weeks from the date of first appearance before the learned
reference Court. The reference Court is also directed to decide
the reference cases as expeditiously as possible and not later
than 31.12.2022.
6.3 It is also seen from the record that the learned reference
Court had granted number of opportunities to the appellants with
respect to production of evidence, however, they remained
negligent. Therefore, this Court is of the opinion that if any
enhancement is made by the learned reference Court in the
remand proceedings, the appellants shall not be entitled to any
interest from the date of impugned judgment till today, i.e. from
17.3.2018 to 29.6.2022.
6.4 The parties are directed to cooperate with the learned
reference Court in early disposal of the reference cases. Present
First Appeals are allowed for the aforesaid reasons and
accordingly stand disposed of. There shall be no order as to
costs."
6. The above observations stipulate that the appellants claimants
shall not be entitled for any interest for the intervening period i.e.
from the date of impugned judgment till the order passed by this
Court.
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7. Under the circumstances, and in light of the aforesaid order
passed by this Court, the impugned judgment and award passed in
this first appeal is quashed and set aside. It is directed that the parties
shall adduce their evidence within a period of six weeks from the
date of first appearance before the reference Court. The reference
Court is also directed to decide the reference cases within a period of
one year from the date of the receipt of the writ of this order. It is
also directed that the appellants-claimants shall not be entitled for
any interest from the date of the impugned judgment till the date of
passing of this order. The parties are directed to cooperate with the
reference Court for early disposal of the reference cases.
8. With the aforesaid observations and directions, present appeal
stands disposed of.
(D. M. DESAI,J)
Vikramsinh Amarsinh
