Gujarat High Court
Yunus Umarji Ekharia vs Special Land Acquisition Officer on 9 October, 2025
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C/FA/1928/2013 JUDGMENT DATED: 09/10/2025
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 1928 of 2013
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 1929 of 2013
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 1930 of 2013
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 1931 of 2013
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 1932 of 2013
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 1933 of 2013
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 1934 of 2013
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 1935 of 2013
With
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 1936 of 2013
FOR APPROVAL AND SIGNATURE:
HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE HEMANT M. PRACHCHHAK
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Approved for Reporting Yes No
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YUNUS UMARJI EKHARIA
Versus
SPECIAL LAND ACQUISITION OFFICER & ANR.
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Appearance:
MR KM SHETH(838) for the Appellant(s) No. 1
MS FORUM TRIVEDI, ASST. GOVERNMENT PLEADER for the
Defendant(s) No. 1,2
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE HEMANT M.
PRACHCHHAK
Date : 09/10/2025
COMMON ORAL JUDGMENT
1. Present appeals are filed by the appellants - original
claimants under Section 54 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894
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(hereinafter be referred to as "the Act") read with Section 96 of
the Code of Civil Procedure Code, 1908 challenging the common
judgment and award dated 21.12.2012 passed by the learned 6 th
Additional Senior Civil Judge, Vadodara (hereinafter be referred
to as "the Reference Court") in Land Acquisition Reference
Nos.1604 of 1999, 1609 of 1999, 1612 of 1999, 1613 of 1999,
1614 of 1999, 1615 of 1999, 1617 of 1999, 1618 of 1999 & 1621
of 1999 respectively, whereby the Reference Court has awarded
Rs.17.36ps. per square meter, over-and-above the amount
awarded by the Special Land Acquisition Officer, which comes
Rs.22.50ps. per square meter.
2. It is the case of the appellants that, for the purpose of
construction of Ochchan Branch Canal of Narmada Yojna, the
State Government acquired the lands of the appellants - original
claimants situated at Village: Valan, Taluka: Karjan, District:
Vadodara. That, notification under Section 4 of the Land
Acquisition Act (hereinafter be referred to as "the Act") was
issued, which was published in the official gazette on 02.06.1994
and also published in local newspaper on 10.04.1994 and
declaration under Section 6 of the Act was issued, which was
published in the official gazette on 26.10.1995 and also
published in local newspaper on 29.03.1995 and ultimately, the
Special Land Acquisition Officer declared the award on
19.10.1996 and awarded compensation at the rate of Rs.5.14ps.
per square meter in LAQ Case No.111 of 1994.
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3. Being aggrieved, the appellants - original claimants,
preferred the aforesaid LAR Cases under Section 18 of the Act for
additional compensation of Rs.50/- per square meter. That, the
respondents had filed their written statements denying all the
allegations made in the References. That, after considering the
pleadings of both the sides, the Reference Court had framed the
issues at Exh.-11 referred in para-6 and the same were answered
in para-7. After considering the documentary as well as the oral
evidence led before the Court, the judgment and award dated
21.12.2012 came to be passed by the learned 6 th Additional
Senior Civil Judge, Vadodara as aforesaid. This has aggrieved the
appellants, have preferred the present appeals raising various
grounds.
4. Heard Mr. K. M. Sheth, learned counsel appearing for the
appellants and Ms. Forum Trivedi, learned Assistant Government
Pleader, appearing for respondents.
5. Learned counsel Mr. Sheth has submitted that the
impugned judgment and award passed by the Reference Court is
contrary to law and facts on record. He has submitted that the
Reference Court has erred in appreciating the fact that the lands
of the claimants were black Jirayat and fertile and having
irrigation facility and were capable of fetching more value, as
they were taking two crops in a year namely, cotton and tuver
and were earning net annual agricultural income at Rs.11,000/-
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per hector before acquisition of their lands. He has submitted
that the Reference Court has also erred in appreciating the fact
that the lands of the claimants were situated only 5 kms. away
from the National Highway and 2 kms. away from Palej village
and, Industrial Units, Post Office, Public Health Center, Panchayat
Office, Primary & Secondary Schools are also situated near
village Valan and therefore, the claimants had demanded Rs.50/-
for their acquired lands as compensation, however, the
Reference Court has awarded only Rs.17.36ps. per sq. mtr.,
which is unjust and inadequate looking to the fertility of the
lands. He has further submitted that the amount of
compensation awarded by the Reference Court is very meager in
comparison to the factors to be looked into and to be taken into
consideration while fixing the amount of compensation and
herein the present case, the Reference Court has failed to
consider those factors while evaluating the value of the acquired
lands. He has further submitted that the Reference Court has not
appreciated the oral as well as the documentary evidence led
before it, more particularly, the oral evidence of one Bashir
Ibrahim Nanji at Exh.-35 that the lands of the claimants were
irrigated lands having irrigation facilities and were able to take
two crops in a year namely, cotton and tuver. He has submitted
that the Reference Court has not considered the documentary
evidence led before it in the form of Exh.-19 to Exh.-34 in its true
and proper spirit while passing the impugned judgment and
award and thereby awarded only Rs.17.36ps. per square meter,
which is absolutely unjust and inadequate.
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5.1 Learned counsel Mr. Sheth has submitted that the distance
between village Valan and village Ikhar is only 2 kms. and are
adjoining villages and though the documentary evidence in that
regard was produced before the Reference Court, wherein, the
claimants had produced the order passed in case of the said
village Ikhar, however, discarding the said evidence and
considering the order passed in case of village Dethan, which is
10 kms. away from the present village Valan, the Reference
Court has passed the impugned judgment and award on the
ground that village Ikhar is situated in district Bharuch whereas,
village Dethan is situated in district Vadodara and therefore, the
decision in case of village Ikhar cannot be looked into and the
Reference Court has ignored the award passed in case of village
Ikhar and thus, the findings recorded by the Reference Court in
paras-20 to 24 is completely erroneous, illegal and unjust. He
has further submitted that against the award passed in case of
village Ikhar, wherein, the Reference Court concerned had
awarded Rs.42/- per sq. mtr., the respondent State had
approached this Court by way of filing appeal being First Appeal
Nos.2753 to 2761 of 2005 with First Appeal Nos.1125 to 1133 of
2004, wherein, this Court, relying upon the decision rendered in
First Appeal Nos.4098 to 4101 of 2007, has dismissed the
appeals vide order dated 30.09.2008 and upheld the award
passed by the Reference Court concerned and thus, the issue
involved in the present appeals is already covered by the
decision of this Court. Learned counsel Mr. Sheth has submitted
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that in the present case, notification under Section 4 was issued
on 10.04.1994, whereas, in case of village Ikhar, the notification
under Section 4 was issued on 14.06.1990 and thus, there is a
gap of 4 years in issuance of both the notifications and therefore,
10% increase per year is required to be considered i.e., 40% of
Rs.42/-, which comes to Rs.16.80ps. and adding Rs.42/-, it comes
to Rs.58.80ps. per square meter, including the amount awarded
by the Special Land Acquisition Officer, however, the claimants
had demanded Rs.50/- per square meter before the Reference
Court. Learned counsel Mr. Sheth has, therefore, urged that in
view of the aforesaid facts, the impugned judgment and award
be appropriately modified and the appeals be allowed to that
extent.
6. Per contra, Ms. Trivedi, learned Assistant Government
Pleader, appearing for he respondent State, has submitted that
the Reference Court while rejecting the contentions raised by the
appellants, has rightly appreciated the evidence led before it and
in paras-12, 13 and 14 read with paras-20 to 23, the Reference
Court has assigned cogent reasons while awarding Rs.17.36ps.
per square meter and therefore, there is no any illegality or any
irregularity committed by the Reference Court. She has
submitted that the Reference Court has rightly discarded the
evidence with regard to village Ikhar and rightly relied upon the
decision in case of village Dethan, as the village Dethan and the
present village Valan are situated in the same taluka: Karjan and
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district: Vadodara and thus, the discussion made by the
Reference Court is on consonance with the facts of the present
case, however, learned AGP Ms. Trivedi is unable to controvert
the fact that, in case of village Ikhar, the appeals preferred by
the respondent State against the award passed by the Reference
Court being First Appeal Nos.2753 to 2761 of 2005 with First
Appeal Nos.1125 to 1133 of 2004 in LAR Case Nos.1197 to 1205
of 1993, wherein, this Court, relying upon the decision rendered
in First Appeal Nos.4098 to 4101 of 2007, has dismissed the
appeals vide order dated 30.09.2008 and upheld the award
passed by the Reference Court concerned and therefore, learned
AGP Ms. Trivedi has urged that appropriate orders may be
passed.
7. I have heard the learned counsel appearing for the
respective parties and perused the material placed on record. I
have also gone through the impugned judgment and award
passed by the Reference Court. I have also considered the
decision of this Court dated 30.09.2008 passed in aforesaid First
Appeals in case of village Ikhar of Bharuch district, whereby, the
amount of compensation of Rs.42/- per square meter awarded by
the Reference Court was confirmed by this Court and which had
attained finality. Merely because, the said village Ikhar, situated
at the distance of 2 kms. from the present village Valan, falls
under the territorial limits of district Bharuch, does not mean that
the amount awarded in respect of the said village cannot be
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taken into consideration and therefore, the findings recorded by
the Reference Court in the present case relying upon the
decision in case of village Dethan is completely erroneous and
illegal. Though the present village Valan and the village Dethan
are situated in the same district Vadodara, however, the distance
between the two are also required to be looked into, which is 10
to 12 kms., which has specifically came on record from the
deposition of the acquiring officer and while looking to the map,
it is crystal clear that the village Valan is adjacent to village Ikhar
and thus, the Reference Court has committed a grave error in
relying upon the decision in case of village Dethan instead of
village Ikhar, which is adjacent to the present village Valan,
although situated in another district i.e. Bharuch. I have also
considered the decision of this Court passed in First Appeal
Nos.4098 to 4101 of 2007, wherein also, this Court has dismissed
the appeals preferred by the State and has confirmed the award
passed by the Reference Court concerned. Considering all these
aspects, this Court is of the opinion that the appeals require
consideration and the impugned judgment and award deserves
to be modified to the extent that the appellants are entitled to an
amount of Rs.50/- per sq. mtr.
8. Resultantly, following final order is passed:-
All the first appeals are hereby allowed. The appellants -
claimants of these appeals shall be entitled to get Rs.27.50ps.
per square meter in addition to the amount of Rs.5.14ps. per
square meter awarded by the Special Land Acquisition Officer
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and Rs.17.36ps. per square meter awarded by the Reference
Court, Vadodara the total amount comes to Rs.50/- per square
meter. The respondents shall deposit additional amount of
compensation with statutory benefits before the Reference Court
within a period of eight weeks from the date of receipt of the
order. On deposit of the amount, the same shall be disbursed in
favour of each claimant, through RTGS / NEFT and the bank
account details shall be furnished by the counsel for the
claimants to the Registry of the Reference Court, Vadodara.
Other observations of the Reference Court for statutory benefits
provided under the Act shall remain intact. Decree be drawn
accordingly. Record and proceedings be sent back to the
concerned Reference Court forthwith.
(HEMANT M. PRACHCHHAK,J)
Dolly
