JUDGMENT :

1. The common judgment and award passed in LAR Cases consisting of LAR Case Nos.211 of 1993 to 222 of 1993 is appealed by the original claimant under Section 54 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act’).

2. By impugned common judgment and award, the Principal Senior Civil Judge, Khambhaliya being a Reference Court, partly allowed the reference under Section 18 of ‘the Act’ and granted the compensation of Rs.20/- per sq. mtr. for irrigated land, Rs.15/- per sq. mtr. for non-irrigated land and Rs.1/- per sq. mtr. for the wasteland.

3. It is an acquisition of the land for the public purpose of Vartun-2 irrigation scheme in a village Ishwariya, Taluka: Porbandar, District: Junagadh. The Notification under Section 4 of ‘the Act’ was published on 14.12.1989 followed by the Notification under Section 6 of ‘the Act’ published on 05.12.1990.

4. The LAQ was numbered as Case No.35 of 1989 and whereby, after issuing a notice to the concerned parties, the Special Land Acquisition Officer has granted Rs.120/- per are for the irrigated land, Rs.85/- per are for the non-irrigated land and Rs.1/- per are for the wasteland.

5. The claimants, since were aggrieved, within the time-limit preferred a Reference under Section 18 of ‘the Act’ before the Reference Court. The learned Reference Court permitted both the parties to lead the evidence and relied upon the judgment in LRC No.111 of 1994 to 155 of 1994 produced at Exhibit-75 and taking it has an exampler and further taking the assistance from the judgments of the Gujarat High Court in First Appeal No.213 of 2014 as well as of the Division Bench in First Appeal No.939 of 2013 to 944 of 2013, judgment of which notifies the precedent that the compensation awarded in the acquisition of the nearby village can be taken as an example to decide the compensation.

6. The learned Reference Court further referred to acquisition of the Village Viramgam and ultimately passed the aforesaid judgment and order of compensation.

7. Being further aggrieved, the original plaintiffs preferred this batch of appeals.

8. Arguing for the claimants, learned advocate Mr. Tejas P. Satta relied upon the judgment of this Court in First Appeal No.4224 of 2024 and allied matters, more particularly para 5 thereof to submit that this Court has taken the reference of the coordinate Bench Judgment in First Appeal No.249 of 2023 and allied matters in the case of Sumer Osman Patel v. Deputy Collector Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation & Anr., decided on 06.10.2025, whereby for the similar public purpose of Vartun-2 Irrigation scheme for the adjoining village, has considered the coordinate Bench assessment at Rs.25.23/- per sq. mtr.

8.1 He would submit that in view of the said judgment, this Court may also decide present batch of appeals accordingly.

9. Per contra, learned AGP Ms. Hemali D. Soni having referred to the judgment passed by this Court in First Appeal No.4224 of 2024 and allied matters, submitted to pass the necessary order.

10. At the outset, let me refer the judgment passed by this Court in First Appeal No.4224 of 2024 and allied matters, whereby the group of the appeals were disposed of in a land acquisition for the same Vartun-2 Irrigation scheme in nearby village of Aambaliyara, Taluka: Bhanvad. The Notification under Section 4 in that case was published on December, 1989. In the present case also, the Notification is published in December, 1989. The fixing of compensation by the Special Land Acquisition Officer is also on similar quantification.

11. Learned AGP Ms. Hemali D. Soni, in her utter fairness, submitted that there is more similarities than the dissimilarities in the acquisition on the case on hand and the acquisition of the land being the subject matter of the First Appeal No.4224 of 2024 and allied matters.

11.1 She further submitted that the distance between village Ishwariya and village Aambaliyara is approximately 9 – 10 kms only. Topographical conditions as well as overal