( 1 ) CERTAIN land of the appellant, together with a house standing thereon, has been acquired by the Land Acquisition Officer, Balaghat. The acquisition is for the purposes of a school. For her khasra No. 310/1, area 0. 68 acre, and the house standing thereon, the Land Acquisition Officer, by his award dated 29 May 1956, assessed Rs. 1131/- as compensation payable to her. She did not accept the award and applied for a reference to the Civil Court under Section 18 of the Land acquisition Act.

( 2 ) THE Additional District Judge, Balaghat disposed of the reference in the following manner. He found that the award made by the Land Acquisition Officer was based purely on the report of the Revenue Inspector and his own impressions which he formed on spot inspection. It appeared to him that the Land Acquisition officer did not at all apply his mind to the question of valuation and just accepted the report of the Revenue Inspector and in doing so the Land Acquisition Officer "abdicated his functions to the Patwari and the Revenue Inspector and pronounced the award without even considering the correct ness of the report". The learned Judge further observed that the Patwari g