RATANBEN HARIBHAI DANGAR (LEGAL HEIRS OF DECD. HARIBHAI NAJABHAI DANGAR) vs THE DEPUTY COLLECTOR SPECIAL LAND ACQUISITION OFFICER AND REHABILITATION (IRRIGATION)
- Court
- Gujarat High Court
C/FA/4510/2026 JUDGMENT DATED: 16/10/2026
(GJHC240715122026)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 4510 of 2026
FOR APPROVAL AND SIGNATURE:
HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE MOOL CHAND TYAGI
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Approved for Reporting Yes No
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RATANBEN HARIBHAI DANGAR (LEGAL HEIRS OF DECD. HARIBHAI
NAJABHAI DANGAR) & ORS.
Versus
THE DEPUTY COLLECTOR SPECIAL LAND ACQUISITION OFFICER AND
REHABILITATION (IRRIGATION) & ANR.
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Appearance:
MR KRUSHNAKANT D PATEL(10632) for the Appellant(s) No. 1,2,3,4,5
MR TEJAS P SATTA(3149) for the Appellant(s) No. 1,2,3,4,5
MS. DIXA PANDYA, AGP for the Defendant(s) No. 1,2
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CORAM: HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE MOOL CHAND TYAGI
Date : 16/10/2026
JUDGMENT
1. Issue Rule to the respondents, returnable forthwith. Ms. Dixa
Pandya, learned AGP accepts and waives service of Rule on behalf of
the respondents.
2. The captioned appeal has been preferred by the original
claimants against the impugned judgment and decree dated 30.07.2018
th
passed by the learned 8 Additional Senior Civil Judge, Jamnagar in
Land Reference Case No.346 of 2007, whereby the learned Reference
Court had rejected the reference preferred by the appellants/claimants
herein.
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3. Bereft of the unnecessary details, the facts as narrated in the
captioned appeal which led to the filing of the captioned appeal, are
summarized as under:-
i. Appellants herein are the owners of the acquired land
situated at Village : Rampar, Taluka and District : Jamnagar.
Notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act
(hereinafter referred to as the “Act”) for acquiring the land of the
appellants for the purpose of “Kankavati Irrigation Scheme” was
published on 18.05.2006. The respondent - authorities declared its
award and compensation at the rate of Rs.5/- per Sq. Mtr. Owing
to the meagreness of compensation awarded, appellants
approached the Land Acquisition Officer and the Land Acquisition
Officer declared its award under Section 11 of the Act on
30.06.2007. Being aggrieved and dissatisfied with the award
passed by the Land Acquisition Officer, the appellants/claimants
preferred application before the learned Reference Court,
however, the learned Reference Court rejected the reference
preferred by the appellants/claimants herein.
ii. Being aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned
judgment and decree passed by the learned Reference Court, the
appellants have preferred the captioned appeal with a prayer to
quash and set aside the impugned judgment and decree and to
remand back the reference to the learned Reference Court for
fresh re-consideration.
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4. Heard learned advocates for the parties at length.
5. Mr. Tejas P Satta, learned advocate for the appellant, submitted
th
that the reference was rejected by the learned 8 Additional Senior Civil
Judge, Jamnagar. He submitted that other connected matters arising
out of the very same notification have been remanded back by the
Coordinate Bench of this High Court in First Appeal No. 3809 of 2026
vide its order dated 18.08.2026. Therefore, he prayed that the
captioned appeal be allowed and the matter be remanded back to the
learned Reference Court for fresh adjudication on merits.
6. Ms. Dixa Pandya, learned AGP appearing on behalf of the
respondents submitted that the captioned appeal was filed belatedly,
along with an application being Civil Application No.4548 of 2026
seeking condonation of delay of 2881 days occurred in preferring the
appeal. She submitted that while allowing the said civil application, this
Court specifically held that the claimant shall not be entitled to any
interest on the enhanced compensation for the entire period of delay, in
event of enhancement of compensation. As such, she prayed that a
specific direction to that effect be given to the learned Reference Court,
such that the appellants/claimants shall not be entitled for any interest
on the enhanced compensation for the entire period of delay of 2881
days, in the event of any enhancement of compensation.
7. This Court has considered the submissions advanced by the
learned advocates for the parties and has perused the material available
on record. It is to be noted that the learned Reference Court has
rejected the reference on the principal ground that neither the claimant
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nor his counsel had appeared before the Court and no evidence was led
by the claimant to prove his case. Learned Reference Court further held
that the burden is entirely upon the claimant to prove his case and he
has failed to do so.
8. At this juncture, it would be apposite to refer to the judgment
rendered by the Hon’ble Apex Court in the case of Khazan Singh
(Dead) By LRs. vs Union of India reported in (2002) 2 SCC 242,
wherein it was observed as under :-
“The provisions above subsumed would thus make it clear that
the Civil Court has to pass an award in answer to the reference
made by the Collector under Section 18 of the Act. If any party
to whom notice has been served by the Civil Court did not
participate in the inquiry it would only be at his risk because an
award would be passed perhaps to the detriment of the
concerned party. But non-participation of any party would not
confer jurisdiction on the Civil Court to dismiss the reference for
default.”
9. Thus, it is evident that a Reference cannot be rejected because of
non-appearance of the parties and the Reference Court is supposed to
give its award one way or the other whether the parties chose to
appear in the matter or not.
10. Moreover, under similar circumstances, the Coordinate Bench of
this High Court in First Appeal No. 3809 of 2026 had quashed and set
aside the judgment and award challenged therein, and remanded back
other connected matters arising out of the very same notification to the
learned Reference Court for fresh adjudication in accordance with law.
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11. Thus, in view of the judgment rendered by the Hon’ble Apex in
Khazan Singh (Dead) By LRs (supra) and having regard to the ratio
of the judgment passed by the Coordinate Bench in First Appeal No.
3809 of 2026, I am of the considered view that the captioned appeal
deserves to be remanded back to the learned Reference Court for fresh
adjudication on merits. Accordingly, the impugned judgment and decree
is hereby quashed and set aside and the reference proceedings is
restored back to the learned Reference Court concerned with a direction
to decide the same afresh within a period of three months from the
date of receipt of copy of this order, after affording sufficient
opportunity to the parties concerned to complete their pleadings and to
lead their evidence. The parties are directed to assist the learned
Reference Court for timely disposal of the matter and they shall not
seek any unnecessary adjournments.
12. It is further made clear that the appellants/claimants herein shall
not be entitled to any interest for a period of 2881 days, which is the
period of delay occurred in preferring the appeal, in the event of any
enhancement in compensation.
13. In view of the above directions, the captioned appeal stands
allowed in aforesaid terms and is accordingly disposed of.
Consequently, pending civil applications, if any would not survive and
the same also stands disposed of. Records & Proceedings, if any, be
sent to the learned Trial Court concerned. No order as to costs.
(MOOL CHAND TYAGI, J)
ARUN
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