Mahadeo
Bajirao Patil Vs. State of Maharashtra & Ors [2005] Insc 468 (6 September 2005)
B.P.
Singh & S.B. Sinha B.P. Singh, J.
This
appeal by special leave is directed against the judgment and order of the High
Court of Judicature at Bombay dated October 30, 2001 in First Appeal No. 981 of 1996. By the aforesaid judgment
the High Court allowed the appeal preferred by the State of Maharashtra/respondent No.1 herein and held that the
application filed by respondent No.1 under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition
Act for making a reference was barred by limitation.
The
sole question which, therefore, arises for consideration in the instant appeal
is whether the said application filed by the appellant herein under Section 18
of the Land Acquisition Act was barred by time.
The
facts of the case in so far as they are relevant for the disposal of this
appeal are as follows:- One Kulkarni held a lease executed on December 3, 1979 for a period of 20 years in respect
of an area of 142 Hectares 78 Ares from the State of Maharashtra for mining Silica sand. The
aforesaid lessee applied to the State of Maharashtra on May
3, 1991 for transfer
of the mining lease in favour of the appellant herein. In the mean time, on October 8, 1991 a proposal was submitted to the
Collector of Sindhudurg by Respondent No.136, namely, M/s. Konkan Railway
Corporation Ltd. for acquisition of land for the purpose of the said
Corporation situated in village Achirne. Pursuant thereto land measuring 13
Hectare 9 Ares were notified for acquisition by Notification issued under
Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act on February 13, 1992. Subsequent thereto
the Government by its Order dated February 20, 1992 allowed the application for
transfer of mining lease in favour of the appellant herein. This included the
lands notified for acquisition of village Achirne. The agreement was thereafter
executed by and between the aforesaid Kulkarni and the appellant on May 15, 1992 and the lease-hold rights were
transferred in favour of the appellant.
On July 25, 1992 a declaration under Section 6 of
the Act was issued in respect of the lands earlier notified on February 13, 1992.
Sometime
in May 1994, the appellant filed a writ petition before the High Court of
Bombay being Writ Petition No. 1238 of 1994 for quashing the acquisition proceeding
as also the inquiry conducted under Sections 9 and 11 of the Act. It was also
prayed that respondent No.136 M/s. Konkan Railway Corporation. Ltd. be
restrained from taking any further action in the matter. This writ petition was
disposed of by order of June
7, 1994 which directed
the State of Maharashtra to comply with the requirements of
Section 17(3)(a) of the Act within eight weeks and declare the award within
eight weeks thereafter. The award ultimately came to be declared on August 29, 1994 which awarded compensation only to
the land owners/ respondents 2 to 135 and not to the appellant who was a mere
lessee and found not entitled to grant of compensation. It is also not disputed
that on September 18, 1994 a telegram was sent to the appellant herein by the
Special Land Acquisition Officer informing him of the declaration of the award
which translated into English reads as follows:- "This Office No. LQN/Konkan
Railway Project/Sank-3-Achirne 463/91 dated 31-8-94 be perused Mouje Achirne Taluka
Vaibhavwadi Award No.463/91 has been declared on 29-8-94".
"As
per the discussion in this Award first demand is rejected".
On
receiving the telegram on September 20, 1994 the appellant immediately applied to the Collector for providing him a
copy of the award filed in his office. Thereafter, on December 9, 1994, the appellant filed Writ Petition
No.447 of 1995 before the Bombay High Court. In the Writ Petition, he admitted
the fact that although an award had been declared by the Special Land
Acquisition Officer it had not been officially served upon him.
The
appellant annexed to this writ petition as Ex. B an ordinary copy of the award
and challenged the validity of the award in as much as the appellant had not
been awarded any compensation.
This
writ petition was disposed of by the High Court by its judgment and order of January 30, 1995 directing the appellant to seek
remedy under Section 18 of the Act with liberty to make an appropriate
application for condonation of delay. On February 20, 1995 an application under Section 18 of
the Act was filed. The Joint Civil Judge who heard the aforesaid Land Reference
No.69 of 1995 allowed the reference application and awarded compensation of
Rs.4 crores to the appellant with interest @ 10% per annum from November 1, 1996 onwards. We may only notice that in
the aforesaid writ petition the land owners/ respondents 2 to 135 were added as
party respondents while respondent No.136 intervened in the writ petition
making a grievance that in the land reference case no order should have been
passed in the absence of respondent 136 i.e. M/s Konkan Railway Corporation.
Ltd. since the acquisition was made at the instance of the aforesaid
Corporation.
The
State of Maharashtra challenged the judgment and order
of the Joint Civil Judge in First Appeal No.981 of 1996 before the Bombay High
Court. It was contended, inter alia, that the application for reference made
under Section 18 was barred by limitation and there was no power in the Court
or the Land Acquisition Officer to condone the delay in filing an application
under Section 18 of the Act. The High Court by its impugned judgment and order
has upheld the contention of the State of Maharashtra.
From
the facts noticed above it cannot be disputed that an award had been declared
by the Special Land Acquisition Officer on August 29, 1994. Intimation about the declaration
of the award was sent to the appellant by telegram dated September 18, 1994 which was admittedly received by
the appellant on September
20, 1994. In the writ
petition filed on December
9, 1994 the appellant
admitted knowledge of the fact that an award has been declared but asserted
that a copy of the award had not been officially served upon the appellant.
However, an ordinary copy of the award was annexed to the writ petition as
Ext-B. The application under Section 18 of the Act was made by the appellant on
February 20, 1995. Section 18 of the Act reads as
follows:- "18.Reference to Court
(1)
Any person interested who has not accepted the award may, by written
application to the Collector, require that the matter be referred by the
Collector for the determination of the Court, whether his objection be to the
measurement of the land, the amount of the compensation, the persons to whom it
is payable, or the apportionment of the compensation among the persons
interested.
(2)
The application shall state the grounds on which objection to the award is taken
:
Provided
that every such application shall be made
(a) if
the person making it was present or represented before the Collector at the
time when he made his award, within six weeks from the date of the Collector's
award.
(b) in
other cases, within six weeks of the receipt of the notice from the Collector
under section 12, sub-section (2); or within six months from the date of the
Collector's award, whichever period shall first expire".
A mere
perusal of section 18 discloses that there are three situations for which
period of limitation has been provided for making an application for reference.
Firstly, if the person making the application was present or represented before
the Collector at the time when he made his award, the application must be filed
within six weeks from the date of the Collector's award.
In the
instant case, it is not disputed that the appellant was not present when the
award was made and, therefore, Section 18(2)(a) is not applicable to the facts
of this case.
Second
and third situations are envisaged by Section 18 (2) (b). The second situation
envisaged is where a notice is received by the applicant under Section 12
sub-section (2) of the Act. In such a case, the period of limitation prescribed
is six weeks from the date of the receipt of the notice or within six months
from the date of the Collector's award whichever period shall first expire.
In the
instant case, the High Court has held the application to be barred by
limitation, firstly, on the ground that the telegram sent to the appellant on
September 18, 1994 amounted to a notice under sub-section (2) of Section 12 of
the Act, and secondly, on the ground that in any event as on December 9, 1994
the applicant had not only knowledge of the fact that an award had been
declared but had also a copy of the award which he annexed with writ petition
as Ext.B. If the date of knowledge is taken to be December 8, 1994, even then the application under Section 18 was barred by
limitation. The correctness of these findings has been assailed before us.
It is
by now well settled that notice under Section 12(2) of the Act is a clear intimation
of making of the award requiring the owner or person interested to receive the
compensation awarded under Section 11 of the Act. It is not necessary that the
notice should contain all the details of the award including the consideration
by the Land Acquisition Collector and its manner of determination of the
compensation. No particular form is prescribed by the Act or the Rules.
In
State of Punjab and another vs. Satinder Bir Singh
: (1995) 3 SCC 330 this Court held :- "The question then is whether the
notice under Section 12(2) is a valid notice. From a conjoint reading of
Sections 11 and 12, it is clear that notice is only an intimation of making of
the award requiring the owner or person interested to receive compensation
awarded under Section 11. On receipt of the notice, if the person interested
receives compensation without protest, obviously no reference need be made. The
determination of compensation becomes final and binds the parties.
When
he receives the compensation under protest as contemplated under Section 31 of
the Act, the need to make the application for reference under Section 18(1)
would arise. At that juncture it will be open to the person interested either
to make an inspection of the award which was conclusive between him and the
Collector by operation of sub-section (1) of Section 12, or seek a certified
copy of the award from the Collector and the contents. Thereon he could make
necessary objection for the determination inter alia, of compensation for the
land. It is not necessary that the notice should contain all the details of the
award including his consideration and its manner of determination of the
compensation as opined by the learned Judge of the High Court. It is not
incumbent that the person interested should immediately make the reference
application on his receiving compensation under Section 31. In other words
receipt of the amount and making the reference application are not
simultaneous. The statutory operation of limitation mentioned by Section 18(2)
does not depend on the ministerial act of communication of notice in any
particular form when the Act or Rules has not prescribed any form. The
limitation begins to operate from the moment the notice under Section 12(2) is
received or as envisaged by Section 18(2)".
It is
not disputed that a telegram was sent to the appellant by the Special Land
Acquisition Officer informing the appellant that the award had been declared on
August 29, 1994 and further stating that the first
demand as discussed in the award was rejected.
The
counsel for the appellant sought to contend before us that though this telegram
intimated the factum of declaration of the award necessary particulars were not
disclosed therein. On the other hand, counsel for respondent No.1 and 136
contended that the telegram clearly mentions the fact that the demand of the
appellant had been rejected. The appellant sought to contend that the reference
to "first demand" in the telegram is to the request of the appellant
made on September 15,
1993 to change the alignment
of the railway track so that the mining area of which the appellant was the
lessee, was not disturbed. It was this demand that had been rejected. Such a
plea does not appear to have been raised before the High Court. The appellant
has not placed before us a copy of the award declared by the Special Land
Acquisition Officer. The representation made by him on September 15, 1993 to the Collector, Sindhudurg, of
which copy had no doubt been endorsed to the Special Land Acquisition Officer,
did not relate to any claim of compensation payable in respect of the lands to
be acquired. It was only a representation confined to the request made by the
appellant to change the railway alignment so that the mining area was not
disturbed. He submitted that the appellant later claimed compensation amounting
to Rs.29 crores by a demand made on May 26, 1994. We are not persuaded to accept
this contention. The Special Land Acquisition Officer while making an award was
certainly not concerned with the alteration of railway track alignment. He was
only concerned with the grant of compensation in accordance with law relating
to the lands forming subject matter of the declaration under Section 6 of the
Act. The submission urged on behalf of the appellant before the High Court that
since no amount had been awarded to the appellant, the award declared on August 29, 1994 was not an award under Section 11
of the Land Acquisition Act, must also be rejected. It is not disputed before
us and also noticed by the High Court, that the Land Acquisition Officer held
that the appellant being a lessee was not entitled to any compensation and
compensation was payable only to the land owners, namely, respondents 2 to 135.
We are
here not concerned with the correctness of the decision, but the fact remains
that having considered the claim of the appellant for compensation, the Special
Land Acquisition Officer rejected the claim. This does amount to the making of
an award, commonly described as "nil award". If the appellant was aggrieved
by such an award, it was open to him to seek reference under Section 18 of the
Act which the appellant actually did. We, therefore, cannot hold that no award
as envisaged by Section 11 of the Act was declared on August 29, 1994, since
the claim of the appellant was considered and was totally rejected. There was,
therefore, no question of giving any calculation of the manner in which the
compensation was computed. Since, the application under Section 18 was not
filed within six weeks of the receipt of notice under Section 12(2) of the Act,
the High Court did not commit any error in holding that the application was
barred by limitation. It was not disputed before us that the Land Acquisition
Officer making a reference, or the Court considering a reference under Section
18 of the Act has no power of condonation of delay in making an application
under the aforesaid Section.
The
next ground on which the High Court held the application to be barred by
limitation is that in any event the appellant had knowledge of the award being
made on December 8, 1994, since he filed a copy of the award as annexure to the
writ petition filed on December 9, 1994 and, therefore, should have filed the
application under Section 18 of the Act within six weeks.
The
submission urged on behalf of the appellant relying upon the Deputy Land
Acquisition Officer and Anr. AIR 1961 SC 1500 that in the instant case even if
it is assumed that the appellant had knowledge of the award at least on
December 8, 1994, he could make an application within six months from the date
of such knowledge, would have deserved serious consideration, but for the
finding recorded by us earlier that the appellant had notice under Section
12(2) of the Act and, therefore, period of limitation for filing the
application under Section 18 was six weeks from the date of receipt of the
notice and not six months from the date of knowledge of the award.
In the
view that we have taken, we find no merit in this appeal and the same is,
accordingly, dismissed.
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