MARIYAPPA Vs. THE SLAO

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioners 1 to 3 herein who are the legal heirs of deceased Mallawwa and co -owners of land bearing Sy. No. 62 (62/1, 2, 3) of Muduvinakoppa village of Bagalkot Taluka have come up in this Writ Petition impugning the order dated 11.9.2012 in rejecting their Review Petition No. 5/2012 by the II Addl. Civil Judge (Sr. Dn.), Bagalkot and also for the direction to consider the petition dated 27.6.2008 filed by them under Section 18(2) of the Land Acquisition Act.

(2.) BRIEF facts leading to this writ petition are that the petitioners 1 to 3 are the legal heirs of deceased Smt. Mallawwa Shivaputrappa Kattimani. It is not in dispute that the petitioners 1 to 3 along with the deceased Mallawwa are the registered khatedars of land bearing Sy. No. 62 (62/1, 2, 3) of Muduvinahalli village of Bagalkot Taluka, which was acquired to the extent of 1 acre 28 guntas out of 10 acres 21 guntas and subsequently the compensation was also awarded. It is the case of the petitioners that' initially they were not aware of the acquisition of their land by the Special Land Acquisition Officer. It is only on 28.11.2007 they came to know about the acquisition of a portion of their property and passing of award in the name of deceased Mallawwa. Hence they filed an application seeking modification of the award and subsequently received the payment on 3.6.2008 and thereafter filed an application under Section 18(2) of the Land Acquisition Act seeking reference of the matter for enhancement of compensation. The said application was rejected on the ground that the application was filed beyond the period of limitation of 90 days and hence the same cannot be entertained.

(3.) IN the Review Petition No. 5/2012 which was filed by the petitioners herein, the learned II Addl. Civil Judge (Sr. Dn.), Bagalkot, after appreciating the material available on record has come to the conclusion that as on the date of 28.11.2007, when the petitioners came to know about the award being passed in the name of deceased Mallawwa should have filed an application under Section 12(2) of the Land Acquisition Act. Instead, they waited for nearly about 11 months and thereafter filed the application contending that constructively they received the notice of award only at the time of receiving the compensation awarded in their favour on 3.6.2008