The main legal point established in the judgment is that a decision on a reference under Section 30 of the Land Acquisition Act is not considered an award, impacting the appeal jurisdiction under Section 54.

Ramesam, J.

1. This is an appeal against the decision of the Subordinate Judge of Vizagapatam on a reference to him under Section 30, Land Acquisition Act.

2. The facts are as follows: The Special Deputy Collector, Harbour Acquisition, Vizagapatam, made his award on 18th January 1925. As to the apportionment of one of the amounts he awarded, there was a dispute between two claimants. Without deciding their claims he referred the matter to the civil Court under Section 30. The amount in dispute which was referred to the Subordinate Judges Court was Rs. 1,349. A preliminary objection is raised by the vakil for the respondent that this appeal does not lie to the High Court but to the District Court of Vizagapitam. We think this objection is well founded, After a reference under Section 30 is made to the civil Courts, the decision of the Court cannot be regarded as an award under Part 3 of the Act. In the case reported in Ramachandra Rao v. Ramachandra Rao A.I.R. 1922 P.C. 80, their Lordships of the Privy Council observe that there are two perfectly separate and distinct; forms of procedure contemplated under the Act and where there is a dispute as to the relative rights of the persons together entitled to the money the duty of the Collector is to place the money under the control of the Court, and the parties then can proceed to litigate in the ordinary way to determine what their right and title to the property may be. How the proceedings were commenced is a matter that is not material, provided that they were instituted in the manner that gave the Court jurisdiction, for they ended in a decree made by the High Court and appeal-able to this Board.

3. These observations show that a decision on a reference under Section 30 was regarded as a decree and not as an award as then understood, and it attracted all the usual consequences of an appeal to the High Court and a further appeal to the Privy Council like all decrees of Subordinate Courts. The view taken there was that it was a decree governed by Civil P.C., and the Civil Courts Act. If so, the subject matter of the lis being only Rs. 1,349, the appeal from the Subordinate Judge does not lie to the High Court but only to the District Court, because the value is less than Rs. 5,000.

4. This was the view taken by our brothers, Devadoss and Jackson, JJ. in Mahalinga Kudumban v. Theetharappa Mudaliar A.I.R. 1929 Mad. 223. I must allow the preliminary objection and direct the appeal memorandum to be returned for presentation to the proper Court. Costs will abide the result.

Venkatasubba Rao, J.

5. The short question to be decided is, whether the decision of the Court under Section 30, Land Acquisition Act, an award within the meaning of that Act? If it is, an appeal lies to the Court under Section 54, otherwise not. To answer this question, we must have regard to the scheme of the Act. If the Collector decides as regards the persons to whom the compensation is payable, but any of the claimants is dissatisfied with that decision, the person so dissatisfied may require the matter to be referred by the Collector for the determination of the Court. Section 18 (1) deals with such a reference. It runs thus Any person who has not accepted the award may, by written application to the Collector, require that the matter be referred by the Collector for the determination of the Court, whether his objection be to the measurement of the land, the amount of the compensation, the persons to whom it is payable, or the apportionment of the compensation among the persona interested.

6. I have now referred to what happens when the Collectors award contains a decision in regard to the persons to whom the compensation is payable. The Act seems also to provide for a case where the Collectors award does not contain such a decision. Section 30 provides for that case. It is in these terms:

When the amount of compensation has been settled, under Section 11, if any dispute arises as to the apportionment of the