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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD

DIST: RAJKOT

SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO.8150 OF 2021

Indian Oil Corporation Limited …Petitioner

VERSUS

National Highway Authority of India and others …Respondents

AFFIDAVIT-IN-REJOINDER OF THE PETITIONER

I,

, the Petitioner herein, do hereby solemnly affirm and state on further

affidavit as under:-

1. I state that I have received and read copy of the affidavit-in-reply

filed by the respondent No.3 herein - Rajkot Urban

Development Authority ( RUDA) and having made myself

conversant on the basis of available records and having been

authorized, I am able to depose to the statements and averments

made herein.

2. At the outset I do not admit all the averments, allegations and

contentions raised in the affidavit-in-reply and the same are

hereby denied categorically since the same are far from truth
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and misleading and my not dealing with the same para-wise

may kindly not be construed as an admission on my part.

3. I humbly submit that to recapitulate certain facts, in the year 1984 /

87, the Petitioner purchased the land at Survey No.207 of

Mouje Anandpar, Tal. Navagam, Dist. Rajkot. After having

paid full consideration to the respondent No.3 - Rajkot Urban

Development Authority (RUDA) , the Petitioner was put in

possession in the capacity of owner of the subject land. RUDA

thereafter issued a Commencement Certificate for construction

of bottling plant. Due to delay on the part of RUDA /

Collector, Rajkot, the Sale Deed ultimately could be executed

only in the year 2004. Thereafter, due to the aspect of Stamp

Duty, the Sale Deed ultimately came to be registered on

20.2.2018. In the interregnum, since the Petitioner wanted to

commission MSV Project, had made an application to RUDA

for issuance of NOC and in turn RUDA addressed a letter to

NHAI for giving its no objection. The NHAI required the

Petitioner to give an undertaking which was also so provided.

At this stage, the Petitioner deems it fit to refer to Annexures B

and C to the petition. Under the said Annexure C, the

Petitioner, as per the requirement of NHAI, stated that amongst

other aspects "we declare that there will be no additional

demand / compensation claimable other than applicable as

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per Government norms / NH Division Norms in case of land

acquisition."

4. Thus, the Petitioner has stated that it will not claim any additional

compensation which has not been so provided or applicable as

per the applicable norms. This would not mean that even the

just amount payable to the Petitioner would be denied.

5. The Petitioner also deems it fit to submit that though the NHAI

was very much aware of the ownership of the Petitioner, with

regard to the said land, no notice worth the name has been

given under the provisions of the National Highways Act.

There being no affidavit from the respondent Nos.1 and 2, this

assertion remains undenied.

6. As can be seen from the affidavit filed by the respondent No.3, the

main contention urged is that in view of the declaration at

Annexure C to the petition, it is now not open for the Petitioner

to raise any grievance. In this connection, the Petitioner most

humbly submit that the respondent No.3 is well aware of the

provisions of the Gujarat Town Planning & Urban

Development Act, 1976. The said respondent No.3 has mainly

contended that under the second revised development plan -

2031, a width of national highway is expanded to 60 Meters

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from 45 Meters and on both sides of road, a width of 7.5 Meters

is enhanced. As per the humble understanding of the Petitioner,

the provisions relating to draft development plan are to be

found in Sections 9 to 19 of the above referred Act. Once the

final development plan is sanctioned, the procedure / mandate

of Section 20 of the said Act is required to be followed.

"20. Acquisition of land. - [(1) The area development

authority or any other authority for whose purpose land is

designated in the final development plan for any purpose

specified in clause (b), clause (d), clause (f), clause (k),

clause (n) or clause (o) of sub-section (2) of Section 12,

may acquire the land,-

(a) by an agreement, or;

(b) in lieu of any development right by granting

the owner against the area of land

surrendered free of cost and free from all

encumbrances;

(c) under the provisions of the Right to Fair

Compensation and Transparency in Land

Acquisition, Rehabilitation and

Resettlement Act, 2013.]

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(2) If the land referred to in sub-section (1) is not

acquired by agreement within a period of ten years

from the date of the coming into force of the final

development plan or if proceedings under the Land

Acquisition Act, 1894 (1 of 1894) are not

commenced within such period, the owner or any

person interested in the land may serve a notice on

the authority concerned requiring it to acquire the

land and if within six months from the date of

service of such notice the land is not acquired or

no steps are commenced for its acquisition, the

designation of the land as aforesaid shall be

deemed to have lapsed."

7. The respondent No.3 has maintained a tacit silence with regard to

the requirements of Section 20 being fulfilled. It is no gain

saying that NHAI would have issued requisite notices to RUDA

(not to the Petitioner) with regard to the said land and RUDA

would have received the compensation under the Award, if any,

passed under the NH Act. Even on this aspect, the respondent

No.3 - RUDA has maintained a tacit silence.

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8. In view of the above, I humbly submit that the prayers prayed for

against RUDA, namely, paragraph 18 (C) may kindly be

allowed.

9. In view of the above, I am not dealing with each and every

averments made in the reply and the same may be treated to

have been denied.

SOLEMNLY AFFIRMED AT ______________ ON THIS

_____ DAY OF FEBRUARY, 2022.

______________
DEPONENT