Gujarat High Court
Legal Heirs Of Deceased Bhangi Virabhai ... vs State Of Gujarat on 16 January, 2024
NEUTRAL CITATION
C/CA/2148/2023 ORDER DATED: 16/01/2024
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/CIVIL APPLICATION (FOR CONDONATION OF DELAY) NO. 2148 of
2023
In F/FIRST APPEAL NO. 29945 of 2023
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LEGAL HEIRS OF DECEASED BHANGI VIRABHAI RAMSANGBHAI
Versus
STATE OF GUJARAT
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Appearance:
MR RAKESH R PATEL(3239) for the Applicant(s) No.
1,1.1,1.1.1,1.1.2,1.1.3,1.1.4,1.1.5,1.2,2,2.1
MS FORAM U TRIVEDI AGP ADVANCE COPY SERVED TO AGP for the
Respondent(s) No. 1
NOTICE SERVED for the Respondent(s) No. 2
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DEVAN M. DESAI
Date : 16/01/2024
ORAL ORDER
1. Rule. Learned Assistant Government Pleader appears on
advance copy, waives the service of notice of Rule for
respondent-State.
2. This application is filed under Section 5 of the
Limitation Act for condonation of delay of 2843 days in
preferring the First Appeal.
3. Heard learned advocates for the respective parties.
4. The learned advocate for the applicants has submitted
that the main reason of delay is that there was an outbreak of
NEUTRAL CITATION
C/CA/2148/2023 ORDER DATED: 16/01/2024
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Covid-19. The learned advocate for the applicants has
submitted that the applicants are an illiterate agriculturists and
they are not conversant with the law and they does not have
sufficient legal knowledge which could enable them to file an
appropriate appeal within the stipulated period and therefore,
the applicants could not file an appeal within the stipulated
time period.
5. Learned Advocate for the applicants has produced
decision of the Hon'ble Apex Court in case of K.
Subbarayadu and others Versus The Special Collector
(Land Acquisition) reported in 2017 (12) SCC 840 and would
submit that considering the law laid down in aforementioned
case, the applicants are not claiming their right for the interest
upon the enhanced compensation, if any, for the delay period.
It is further submitted that the delay is not intentional and
there was no lethargy on the part of the applicants.
6. Per contra, there is objection on the part of the learned
AGP that the delay has not been sufficiently explained and
NEUTRAL CITATION
C/CA/2148/2023 ORDER DATED: 16/01/2024
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therefore, present application may be dismissed.
7. Applying the ratio of aforesaid judgment in background
of the facts of the present case as well as considering the law
laid down by the Hon'ble Apex Court in case of
K.Subbarayadu (supra), the application seeking condonation
of delay deserves consideration. However, the claimants
would not be entitled to claim interest on the enhanced
amount of compensation, if any, during the delay period.
8. In view of the above, this Court is of the opinion that the
delay has sufficiently been explained, therefore, this
application is allowed subject to the condition that the
applicant - claimant shall not be entitled to claim interest on
the period of delay caused in preferring the First Appeal on
enhanced amount of award, if any. Rule is made absolute to
the aforesaid extent.
(D. M. DESAI,J)
RINKU MALI
