GOVIND MURJI PATEL Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The short facts of the case are that the respondent No.4 Gram Panchayat had moved the proposal for disposal of the land by auction to Town Development Officer (hereinafter referred to as ?TDO?) and the said land as per the petitioners was forming part of Gamtal/village site for which the permission came to be granted for such purpose by TDO on 26.3.1984. Thereafter, the auction was held on 22.10.1984 and the petitioners participated at the auction and the offer of the petitioners was accepted. On 28.2.1985, the order came to be passed by the TDO confirming the sale and the land admeasuring 400.31 sq. mtrs was given to the petitioner No.1 on various conditions as mentioned in the order. In the same manner, the land admeasuring 382.52 sq. mtrs by another order came to be granted by confirming the sale on 28.5.1985 in favour of Vinod Murji (Kerai), petitioner No.2. As per the petitioners, after the possession of the land was handed over, the adjacent land holder, Smt. Laxmibai Velgi Hirani preferred Regular Civil Suit No.230 of 1987 for challenging the allotment of the plot to the petitioners and prayed for injunction against construction. In the said suit, the District Development Officer (hereinafter referred to as ?DDO?) as well as TDO were parties. The learned Civil Judge ultimately passed the order dated 20.7.1987 below application Ex.6, whereby for the reasons recorded in the order the application for injunction was dismissed with costs. The plaintiff therein, Smt. Laxmibai Vejgi Hirani carried the matter before the District Court being Civil Misc. Appeal No.83 of 1988 and the said appeal, as per the order dated 17.6.1992 passed by the learned Assistant Judge, Bhuj, was dismissed.

(2.) It appears that, as per the petitioner, thereafter the other relatives of Lakshimiben Hirani preferred Regular Civil Suit No.487 of 1993 for restraining the petitioners from making construction contending, inter alia, that the construction would obstruct the water flow. In the said suit below application Ex.19, the learned Civil Judge dismissed the same by vacating the order of status-quo, as per the order dated 24.11.1993. It appears that the Gram Panchayat also preferred Regular Civil suit No.685 of 1993 for reliefs, inter alia, to restrain the petitioners from making any construction over the land in question. In the said suit, the application Ex.5 was also submitted for interim injunction. The learned Civil Judge (S.D.), as per the order dated 10.1.1994 passed below Ex.5 in the said suit allowed the application and granted injunction against the petitioners, who were defendant therein from making construction over the land in question for maintenance of status-quo. It appears that the petitioners and others carried the matter before the District Court being Misc. Civil Appeal No.16/1994 against the said interim injunction granted by the learned Civil Judge and in the said appeal, as per the order below Ex.5 passed by the learned Extra Assistant Judge dated 25.3.1994 the operation and implementation of the order passed by the learned Civil Judge below Ex.5 in Civil Suit No.685 of 1993 was stayed and the status-quo was vacated.

(3.) It appears that the Gram Panchayat carried the matter before this Court by preferring Civil Revision Application No.522 of 1994 and it was declared before this Court that the petitioner Gram Panchayat would like to withdraw the application for temporary injunction as well as the suit and this Court permitted such withdrawal. However, it was observed that it would be open for the petitioner therein i.e. Gram Panchayat to move appropriate authority. It was also observed by this Court that the competent authority shall decide the matter without being influenced by the order passed by this Court or the trial Court or the appellate Court and shall dispose of the matter on merits of the case.