DEORAM Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Admit. Heard the matter finally by the consent of the parties.

(2.) This civil revision application chal-lenges the order dated 17.8.2010 passed by the Special Land Acquisition Officer, re-jecting the application filed by the petitioner for reference to the Court for enhancement of the compensation under section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act. The Award in question was passed on 18.7.2006 and it is alleged that the notice under section 12(2) of the Land Acquisition Act, was served upon the petitioner on 18.1.2007. The ref-erence was sought in the months of Febru-ary, 2008 and hence, it is held that it is barred by limitation.

(3.) The question of limitation is mixed question of law and fact and it is required to be pleaded and proved. The contention of the respondents is that the notice under section 12(2) of the said Act was served upon the petitioner on 18.1.2007, whereas the contention of the petitioner is that for the first time, the said notice came to the knowledge of the petitioner on 17.9.2008 when the reply was filed in Writ Petition No. 2773 of 2008 by the respondents. The Special Land Acquisition Officer has not adjudicated upon this disputed question of fact. At any rate, this question can be gone into by the Civil Court and the Spe-cial Land Acquisition Officer could not have rejected the application under sec-tion 18, for reference.