Important point
Where claimant or their representative was not present when award under Land Acquisition Act was made by Collector and notice u/s 12(2) of the Act was not served upon claimant, limitation for filing reference application under later part of Section 18(2)(b) of the Act has to be computed having regard to date on which claimants got knowledge of declaration of award.

Judgment

B.P. Singh, J.—These appeals by special leave are directed against the common judgment and order of the High Court of Gujarat at Ahmedabad dated November 7, 2000 in First Appeals Nos. 7957 to 7969 of 1999 whereby the High Court held that the application for making a reference under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act was barred by limitation.

2. The facts of the case are few and undisputed. Pursuant to acquisition proceeding taken under the Land Acquisition Act, an award was declared under Section 11 of the Act on January 17, 1982. The respondents filed an application for making a reference under Section 18 of the Act on September 22, 1988. The High Court held that since the application for making a reference under Section 18 of the Act was filed beyond the period of six months from the date of declaration of the award; the same was barred by limitation. Hence, the High Court allowed the appeals preferred by the State of Gujarat and quashed the judgment and awards passed by the Reference Court in Land References Cases referred to it for adjudication.

3. The High Court considered the case in the light of the provisions of Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act. It, firstly, held that the claimants were not present when the award was made and, therefore, Section 18(2)(a) was not attracted. It, then, held that the State had not been able to establish that a notice under Section 12(2) of the Act was issued and served upon the claimant. Thus, the first part of Section 18(2)(b) was also not attracted. It, therefore, held that the limitation prescribed under the latter part of Section 18(2)(b) applied in the case and held that the application under Section 18 ought to have been filed within six months from the date of the declaration of the award. Since the application for reference was made beyond the period of six months from the date of declaration of the award, the same was barred by time.

4. Counsel for the claimants-appellants urged that the High Court clearly erred in law in holding the reference application to be barred by time inasmuch as the appellants were not present when the award was made nor were they served with notices under Section 12(2) of the Act. In fact the appellants had no knowledge of the date of declaration of the award till July, 1988 when compensation was paid to them. It was only then that they came to know that the award had been declared on January 17, 1982.

5. The learned Assistant Judge, Sabarkantha District at Himmatnagar by his judgment and order of April 21, 1999 recorded a finding that the application under Section 18 of the Act made on September 22, 1988 was not barred by limitation. This finding is based on the fact that the claimants had been paid compensation in July, 1988 and the application under Section 18 was made on September 22, 1988. There was no evidence to prove that notice under Section 12(2) was even served on the appellants. In these circumstances, he held that the application under Section 18 of the Act was within time. In sum and substance, the Assistant Judge computed the period of limitation from the date of knowledge of the award in July, 1988.

6. Learned counsel for the appellant rightly placed reliance upon the judgment of this Court in Raja Harish Chandra Raj Singh Vs. The Deputy Land Acquisition Officer and another : AIR 1961 SC 1500 and submitted that since the appellants were not present when the award was made, and no notice was given to them under Section 12(2) of the Act, the application for making a reference under Section 18 of the Act must be held to be within time if it is filed within six months of the date of knowledge of the declaration of the award. In our view, the submission is sound and must be accepted. This Court in Raja Harish Chandra Raj Singh (supra) was dealing with a case in which an award was declared under the Act on March 25, 1951. No notice under Section 12(2) of the Act was given to the claimants. It was only on January 12, 1953 that the