This appeal arises out of a land acquisition proceeding begun under the provisions of the (Travancore) Land Acquisition Act and completed under the provisions of the Kerala Land Acquisition Act. The relevant provisions of the two Acts are identical and therefore we shall refer, only to the provisions of the latter Act which we shall hereafter call, the Act.

2. The property acquired, 12.55 acres of land, situated, we are told by the learned Advocate General, near the beach within the limits of the Corporation of Trivandrum, belonged to three brothers who were at the relevant time residing in Malaya. They are Christians and held the property as tenants-in-common. Notice under Section 9 of the Act was issued to them by the Collector (a Special Land Acquisition Tahsildar. whom we shall hereafter refer to as the Land Acquisition Officer) on 12-3-1963 calling upon them to file their claims by 29-3-1963. The notices, it would appear, were sent by registered surface-mail, and, seeing that the section requires at least 15 days' time to be given for filing claims, this conduct on the part of the Land Acquisition Officer calling for claims from persons resident in Malaya within 17 d