Imposing a cost of Rs 1 lakh on “erring officers responsible for suppression and lapse”, the Gujarat High Court has rejected a revision application filed by the the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) seeking condonation of delay of 718 days in challenging a 2023 order of a district court of Bachau which directed payment of compensation in lieu of the 2005 land acquisition to nine farmers from the Dholavira UNESCO heritage site.
The recent order of Justice M K Thakker considered the submissions of the advocate representing the farmers that the ASI had “taken no effective steps” to deposit the amount awarded by the District Court in 2023 and “suppressed the fact” that it had given an assurance before the court as well as later before the Executing court in Rajkot, “several times… that the amount would be deposited”. The matter pertains to the acquisition of some of the 100-acre lands between 2004 and 2005 in Dholavira — the Harappan city site, under the Rajkot Circle of the ASI.
The order of the HC, made available on Tuesday, stated, “…this court finds that (the grounds for condonation of delay are) not only insufficient but wholly inadequate and indicative of a negligent and mala fide intent to delay the execution proceedings. Such grounds cannot be accepted merely on the pretext of the so-called special status claimed by the (ASI). Despite the fact that valuable lands were acquired by the (ASI) more than 20 years ago, the claimants have been deprived of receiving reasonable compensation till date…”
The court order noted that the ASI’s submission that the delay occurred due to mandatory governmental procedure of obtaining administrative approval from higher authorities “does not inspire confidence and fails to constitute a sufficient cause in the eyes of law” and also considered a submission of a communication addressed by the Superintendent of Archaeology, which “advised compliance with the judgment and release of compensation to the landowners”, while rejecting the ASI application.
The court order notes that the proceedings were initiated by the filing of an Execution Application in 2023 before the Principal Senior Civil Judge, Bhachau, Kutch District and thereafter transferred to the Principal Senior Civil Judge, Rajkot, where the ASI had filed “several applications seeking adjournments and each time, assuring that the awarded amount would be deposited”. The court order notes that the Rajkot court in an order of on April 21, 2025, noted that “despite a clear warning regarding issuance of an attachment warrant”, the ASI had taken no effective steps to deposit the award amount.
The oral order of the court notes that the ASI had moved the appeal before the High Court seeking condonation of delay after giving an assurance on June 11, 2025 to the executing court that the compensation would be deposited within 15 days, in order to defer an attachment warrant issued in the matter. The oral order of the court states, “… this Court is of the opinion that the application deserves to be rejected. Accordingly, the application is rejected with costs of ₹1,00,000/- collectively. The said costs shall be recovered from the erring officer(s) responsible for such suppression and lapse.”
The HC ordered the ASI to deposit the costs within a period of three weeks to be “remitted to the learned executing court, which shall disburse the same in favour of the original claimants after due verification”.
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Advocate Jigneshkumar Nayak, appearing for the farmers, stated, “We had submitted in court that the ASI had resorted to suppression of facts as while seeking the condonation of delay it did not mention that it had given repeated assurances to the Executing Courts… The compensation was calculated at Rs 9.57 per square meters of land acquired. The amount awarded was Rs 1.20 crore for nine petitioners… The lands were acquired in 2005 but the petition was moved in 2009 by the farmers after waiting for the compensation.”
In July last year, a five-member team of court officials, including the Principal Senior Civil Court, Rajkot had visited the ASI Rajkot Divisional Office for seizure of movable property in compliance with the seizure order of the executing court, which was then deferred due to the assurance of the ASI, which sought 15 days time for depositing the award.
Dholavira archaeological site
Discovered in 1968 by archaeologist Jagatpati Joshi, Dholavira is a significant archaeological site at Khadirbet in Bhachau Taluka of Kutch District and was accorded the UNESCO world heritage status in July 2021. The site is one of the most important material evidence of the urban settlements in Southeast Asia from the 3000-1500BC period, comprising a protected city, water management systems, cemetery as well as other civic amenities that testifies the ingenuity of the Indus valley civilization.
