The provision about giving of notice in the prescribed manner under section 7(2)(aa)(ii) of the West Bengal Land (Requisition and Acquisition) Act, 1948 is mandatory and not merely directory.

1. THIS Rule is directed against an order of the Land Acquisition Collector, Birbhum, refusing to make a reference under section 8 of the West Bengal Land (Requisition and Acquisition) Act, 1948 [west Bengal Act II of 1948].

2. THE petitioner's prayer for reference has been rejected on the ground of limitation. It is admitted that the Collector's award in the instant case was made on 15th May, 1958. The petitioner was not present before the Collector at the time of the making of the said award but a notice appears to have been received by her on 18th May, 1958, purporting to be a notice under section 12, sub-section (2) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. The petitioner's application for reference was filed on 2nd September, 1958. That application was rejected on the ground of limitation as, according to the Collector, the time for filing the said application had expired on 28th June, 1958, that is, with the expiry of a period of six weeks from the date of the petitioner's receipt of the aforesaid notice, under the first part of section 18 (2) (b) of the Land Acquisition Act (Central Act I of 1894) which provision, inter alia, was attracted to the instant case, that is, to proceedings under the West Bengal Land (Requisition and Acquisition) Act, 1948, by the amended sub-section (2) of section 8 thereof.

Before us a question was raised on behalf of the petitioner as to the scope of the Explanation, appended to the said sub-section (2) of section 8 of the above Act by the new section 5 of the amending Act XII of 1957 and. it was argued that the said Explanation, so far as it sought to widen the scope of the said sec. 8 (2) by equating the notice under sec. 7 (2) (aa) (ii) to that under sec. 12 (2) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, for purposes of its sec. 18 (proviso) was ultra vires and could not be recognised or given effect to.

3. ALTHOUGH we are not in favour of accepting the above view of the aforesaid Explanation, it is not necessary for us to pronounce finally on the validity or otherwise of the same in the light of the petitioner's contention aforesaid, as, in our view, the petitioner, upon any view of the said Explanation, would be entitled to succeed in the instant Rule, as, from the materials, placed before us, it does not appear that any manner has been prescribed for the giving of notice by the Collector, as contemplated in section 7, sub-section (2), clause (aa), sub-clause (ii) of the above West Bengal Land ('requisition and Acquisition) Act, 1948, after its amendment by the aforesaid amending Act XII of 1957. There being thus no prescribed manner, the provision requiring service of notice in the prescribed manner for the purpose of the shorter period of limitation, as contained in the first part of proviso (b) to sec. 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, sought to be attracted to proceedings of the present type by the above amending Act, would not be operative, the result being that the application for reference under this new Statute can be filed within the other or longer period, prescribed in the last part of the said proviso (b) to section 18, namely, six months from the data of the Collector's award, and, from that point of view, the petitioner's application for reference before the Collector would be quite within time.

4. A point was raised by the learned Additional Government Pleader that the provision about giving of notice in the prescribed manner was merely directory and not mandatory or imperative. We are unable to accept this contention. To put it at the highest, it can only be supported on the ground of great inconvenience otherwise occurring from the public point of view. We do not think, however, that to hold that this provision is mandatory or imperative and not merely directory would lead to any such great inconvenience.

The learned Additional Government Pleader further argued that, even where the statute provides for notice in a prescribed manner, the giving of a notice, substantially c