This is a petition in the nature of a writ of mandamus to direct the Special Tahsildar (Land Acquisition), II Ambattur at Saidapet, to refer his application dated 14th November, 1963 to the civil Court under sections 18 and 30 of the Land Acquisition Act, inasmuch as he is a person interested in the amount and in the apportionment of the compensation awarded.

The petitioner is an employee of the Dunlop Rubber Co. He and a few other employees of the company struck a bargain with one Pichai Pillai and his three daughters, the owners of the land acquired in the land acquisition proceedings. by entering into an agreement of purchase on 27th August, 1962 for a consideration of Rs. 27.750. In pursuance of the agreement, the petitioner paid a sum of Rs. 3 000 at the time of the registration on 27th August, 1962. Subsequently he invested a further sum of Rs. 4,000 towards preparing a blue print and making out a lay-out consisting of 35 plots of building sites of various dimensions with park and playground. The roads were also laid out and gravelled and the sites plotted with survey stones.

While so, the Government published a notification under section 4 (1) of the Act that the petit