MAHADEO BAJIRAO PATIL versus STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND ORS.

Citation: [2005] SUPP. 2 S.C.R. 1182 · Decided: 06-09-2005 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: B.P. SINGH · Disposal: Dismissed

Judgment (excerpt)

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A 
MAHADEO BAJIRAO PATIL 
v. 
ST A TE OF MAHARASHTRA AND ORS. 
SEPTEMBER 6, 2005 
B 
[B.P. SINGH AND S.B. SINHA, JJ.] 
land Acquisition Act, I 894 : 
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Section I I-Award of compensation, Meaning-After considering the 
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c claim of the appellant for compensation, LAO rejected the claim holding that 
appellant being a lessee was not entitled to any compensation as compensation 
was payable only to the land owners-Held, it would not cease to be an award 
under section I I-Such awards are commonly described as nil awards. 
JP 
Section I 2(2)-Notice of award made by LAO to the applicant-Held, 
D is a clear intimation of making of the award requiring the owner or person 
interested to receive the compensation awarded-Notice need not contain all 
the details of the award including the consideration fixed by the LAO and its 
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manner of determination of the compensation. 
E 
Section I 8(2) proviso (b)-Reference, limitation for making application 
for-Six weeks of receipt of the notice from the collector under section I 2 (2) 
or six months from the date of knowledge of award-LAO sent a telegram 
to the applicant informing him the factum and date of declaration of award-
Held, it amounts to giving notice under section I 2(2) and period of limitation 
for filing the application under section I8 was six weeks from the date of 
F receipt of the notice and not six months from the date of knowledge of the 
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awards. 
Section I 8(2)-Limitation for making reference-Delay, Condonation 
of-Application for reference under section I 8 filed after six weeks of the 
receipt of notice under s2ction I 2(2)~Held, the application was barred by 
G limitation -LAO making a reference or the Court considering such a 
reference has no power of condonation of delay in making an application 
under section I 8. 
The LAO made an award rejecting the claim of the appellant for 
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compensation holding that as compensation was payable only to the land 
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1182 
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MAHADEO BAJIRAO PATIL v. STATE 
1183 
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owners, appellant being a lessee was not entitled to any compensation. The A 
LAO sent a telegram to the appellant informing him thefactum and date 
of declaration of award. Appellant made an application for making a 
reference under section 18 of the Act after six weeks from the receipt of 
that telegram. The High Court held that the application was barred by 
limitation. Hence this appeal. 
B 
Dismissing the appeal, the Court 
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HELD : I. Having considered the claim of the appellant for 
compensation, the Special Land Acquisition Officer rejected the claim. c 
The Land Acquisition Officer held that the applicant being lessee was not 
entitled to any compensation and compensation was payable only to the 
land owners. This does amount to making of an award, commonly described 
as "nil award". If the appellant was aggrieved by such an award, it was 
open to him to seek reference under section 18 of the Act which the 
appellant actually did. (1190-B, C] 
D 
2. Notice under section 12(2) of the Act is a clear intimation of 
making of the award requiring the owner or person interested to receive 
the compensation awarded under section II of the Act. It is not necessary 
that the notice should contain all the details of the award including the E 
consideration by the Land Acquisition Collector and its manner of 
determinations of the compensation. No particular from is prescribed by 
the Act or the Rules. (1188-D) 
3. A mere perusal of section 18 discloses thatthere are three situations 
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for which period of limitation has been provided for making an application 
for reference. Firstly, ifthe person making, the application was present or F 
represented before the Collector all the time when he made his award, the 
application must be filed within six weeks from the date of the Collector's 
award. Second and third situations are envisaged by Section 18(2)(b). The 
second situation envisaged is where a notice is received by the applicant G 
under Section 12 sub-section (2) of the Act. In such a case, the period of 
limitation prescribed is six weeks from the date of the receipt of the notice 
or within six months from the date of the Collector's award whichever 
period shall first expire. In the instant case, it is not disputed that the 
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appellant was not present when the award was made and, therefore, Section 
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18(2)(a) is not applicable to the facts of the case. (1187-F, G, H; 1188-Aj 
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1184 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2005) SUP

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