ORAL ORDER

1. By way of preferring present petition, the petitioner has prayed for the following relief:

“A. Your Lordships may be pleased to quash and set aside the impugned Order dated 13.01.2026 (Annexure-A) passed by the Principal Senior Civil Judge, Patan in CMA No. 8 of 2024 and thereby direct the Reference Court to correct the Judgment dated 31.03.2011 (Annexure-C) passed in Land Reference Case No. 767 of 2006 by adding Revenue Survey No. 81 for land admeasuring 1692 Sq. Mtrs. situated at Village: Chatawada, Taluka Siddhpur, District: Patan, in respect of the Petitioner and thereby order to pay the amount of compensation for the said land with interest.”

2. The brief facts leading to filing the present petition read as under:

2.1. That the Petitioner is the owner of the land bearing Revenue Survey Nos. 80 and 81 of Village: Chatawada, Taluka: Siddhpur, District: Mehsana and out of the total land of Survey No. 80, land admeasuring 1602 Sq. Mtrs. and out of the total land of Survey No. 81, land admeasuring 1692 Sq. Mtrs. came to be acquired by the Respondents for the purpose of Dharoi Canal by Land Acquisition Case No. 20 of 1998, wherein the Award came to be passed on 06.05.1999 by the Land Acquisition Officer.

2.2. The petitioner and other claimants, therefore, preferred Reference under Section 18 of the Act before the Court of Principal Senior Civil Judge, Patan being Land Reference Case No.767 of 2006, which came to be decided by the Reference Court by judgment and order dated 31.03.2011.

2.3.The Petitioner herein, thereafter, filed an Application before the Reference Court for withdrawal of the amount of compensation and the Reference Court has permitted to withdraw the amount of compensation.

2.4. Thereafter, recently, in the month of May-2024, the Petitioner came to know from the other Claimants whose lands have also been acquired, that they have filed First Appeal No. 809 of 2020 and allied matters before this Court and this Court, vide order dated 30.08.2022, enhanced the amount of compensation and at that time, petitioner came to know that the amount of compensation, which has been determined by the Reference Court and received by the present Petitioner is only for Survey No. 80 qua land admeasuring 1602 Sq. Mtrs., however, in the said Judgment of Reference Court itself, the Survey No. 81 qua land admeasuring 1692 Sq. Mtrs. has not been shown and petitioner has not received any amount of compensation qua the said Survey No.81 and the Petitioner has only received the compensation for the land bearing Survey No. 80 admeasuring 1602 Sq. Mtrs.

2.5. The Petitioner, therefore, immediately, filed Civil Misc. Application No. 8 of 2024 before the Court of Principal Senior Civil Judge, Patan for correction in the Judgment and order passed in Land Reference Case No. 767 of 2006 under Section 151, 152 and 153 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 and thereby prayed for adding Revenue Survey No. 81 admeasuring 1692 Sq. Mtrs. in the Judgment, however, the said application has been rejected essentially on the ground of delay in preferring the said application. Hence, present petition is preferred.

3. Heard learned advocate Mr. A. V. Prajapati for the petitioner and learned AGP Mr. Jay Trivedi for the respondent – State.

4. Learned advocate Mr. Prajapati submits that petitioner is the owner of two parcels of land, which came to be acquired by the Land Acquisition Officer for the purpose of construction of Dharoi Canal. The Land Acquisition Officer has passed an Award and as amount of compensation so awarded is inadequate, the petitioner has preferred Reference under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act before the competent Court for both the parcels of land bearing Revenue Survey Nos. 80 and 81. However, at the time of passing the Award under Section 18 of the Act, the Reference Court has passed award qua land bearing Survey No.80 only and not passed any award qua land bearing Survey No.81. He further submit