AMRU Vs. LAND ACQUISITION COLLECTOR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The following interesting question of law arises for decision in these petitions:

(2.) For the purpose of these petitions, it would be pertinent to refer to Sections 18 and 31(1) & (2) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter referred to as the Act), which read as follows:

(3.) A bare perusal of Section 18 of the Act indicates that any person whose land has been acquired and who has not accepted the award of the Collector on any of the grounds mentioned in this section, can apply to the Collector to refer the dispute for determination to the Court. The proviso to this Section lays down that if the person was present before the Collector when the award was announced then the petition must be filed within six weeks and in other cases within six weeks of the notice of the award from the Collector under Section 12(2) or within six months from the date of the Collector's award.