JAWAHAR SINGH & ORS. Vs. COLLECTOR, JAMMU.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The learned District Judge of Jammu has submitted five cases to this Court for orders. In order to understand the question involved in these cases it is necessary to give a brief history of the cases. It appears that the Government started proceedings under the Land Acquisition Act for the purposes of acquiring certain lands and buildings belonging to Jawahar Singh, Sain Ladha, Guranditta, Romal Singh and Bhagat Ram, situate in Satwari. In accordance with the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act (Regulation X of 1990) usual notices of the intention of the Government to acquire these lands were issued to the interested persons and then an enquiry was made by the Collector who made his awards. After this the aboved named five persons filed applications under section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act and prayed to the Collector that the matter be referred for determination to court as they were not satisfied with the amount awarded to them. Thereupon the Collector referred all the cases to the District Judge of Jammu who, according to the Collector's opinion, was the court to whom the references should have been made under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Regulation. The learned District Judge, by his order dated 27th Maghar 1997 has referred all the five cases to this court. It may be stated that the valuation of three of the five cases is over ten thousand rupees whereas the valuation of the remaining two cases is below ten thousand rupees. The learned District Judge in the concluding portion of his order states:-

(2.) The first question which requires consideration in connection with these cases is whether the reference made by the District Judge is competent. Under the Code of Civil Procedure lower courts have power to make a reference to the High Court. Sec. 113 enacts as follows:

(3.) This section has to be read with Rule 1ORDER46 of the Civil Procedure Code which enacts as follows. -