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Rajkot: Farmers, along with staff from the Rajkot civil court, reached the office of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to execute a court order directing attachment of the department's movable property to recover land acquisition compensation.However, the attachment process was halted after ASI officials assured that the payment would be made by March 19.The dispute dates back to 2004, when the ASI acquired land near the ancient citadel complex at the historical site of Dholavira in Kutch for tourism development. At that time, the ASI fixed compensation at 64 paise per sq m for the villagers whose land was taken.The landowners challenged the compensation, demanding Rs 50 per sq m.
The legal battle continued for nearly 20 years before a Bhachau court, in July 2023, ordered the ASI to pay Rs 9.57 per sq m. The court also directed the department to pay 9% interest for the first year from the date the land was taken and 15% interest for subsequent years until the payment was made.The farmers later filed an execution application before the Bhachau court to enforce the order. The case was subsequently transferred to the Rajkot civil court.
The executing court issued notices to the ASI, after which the department promised to deposit the awarded amount by April 21, 2025.Ultimately, an attachment warrant was issued by the executing court. However, on the assurance given by the ASI that they would deposit the awarded amount within a period of 15 days in June, the attachment was not effected.However, instead of depositing the money, the ASI filed a first appeal before the Gujarat high court with a delay of 712 days.
The department requested that the court condone the delay, stating that the ASI's director general had belatedly decided to challenge the compensation amount.In an order dated Jan 16, 2026, the high court imposed a penalty of Rs 1 lakh on the ASI for attempting to conceal litigation details related to the land acquisition for the Harappan site.Advocates Priyank Nakar and K S Negi, representing the nine farmers, said the ASI now owes around Rs 1.15 crore to the landowners.
"According to the court order, ASI is liable to pay around Rs 1.15 crore to the farmers who have been waiting for nearly 2 decades. The Rajkot court ordered attachment of the department's property by March 20. We came with court staff to attach the property, but ASI officials have now promised that the payment will be made by March 19.
"All the furniture was collected at one side during the day before the operation, before the attachment was suspended.
Speaking to TOI, Nandini Bhattacharya Sahu, spokesperson of ASI, said, "We got administrative approval from the ministry to pay the amount to the farmers, and based on that approval, we gave an assurance to the court that we will pay the farmers by March 19."A letter addressed to the bailiff of principal senior civil judge court was submitted by officials of ASI stating "Integrated finance division, ministry of culture, has conveyed it's concurrence to above proposal (to pay the compensation) for the release of payment towards the land acquisition at Dholavira. The file is under process for getting administrative approval."
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