JUDGEMENT
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(1.)THE petitioners are the present trustees of a deed of trust dated 28-3-1928, and as such trustees they owned certain land at Goregaon admeasuring about 24 acres. In June 1948 Government issued a notification under the Land Acquisition Act in relation to this land and a notification under Section 6 was issued on 4-6-1949. In July 1949 notice to file the claim was given and pursuant to this notice the petitioners filed a claim in November 1949. They made a claim of about Rs. 28,00,000. As far as the petitioners were concerned, nothing further happened till March 1953 and then they came to know that an award had been made by the Collector on 28-12-1951, by which award he had awarded to the petitioners a sum of Rs. 28,128-3-0. They then applied to the Collector for a reference under Section 18. The Collector declined to make a reference on the ground that the application was barred by limitation. and the petitioners have come before us for a writ to compel the Collector to make the reference, and the question that we have to consider on this petition is whether the application of the petitioners is barred by limitation.
(2.)NOW, turning to the Act, a notification under Section 4 can be issued when it appears to the State Government that land in any locality is likely to be needed for any public purpose. Then Section 6 provides for a declaration when the Government is satisfied that a particular land is needed for a public purpose. Section 9 then provides for a public notice to be given by the Collector to the effect that Government intends to take possession of the land and that claims to compensation for all interests in such land may be made to him, and it was pursuant to this notice that the petitioners filed their claim claiming Rs. 28,00,000. Section 11 provides for the inquiry which the Collector has to make prior to the making of the award, and it is not disputed that this inquiry is an administrative inquiry and it is not incumbent upon the Collector to give any notice with regard to this inquiry to any claimant. In fact no notice of the inquiry was given to the petitioners and they were not present. Then Section 12 provides for the filing of the award which is made by the Collector after the holding of the inquiry under Section 11, and that section provides :
"such award shall be filed in the Collector's office and shall, except hereinafter provided, be final and conclusive evidence, as between the Collector and the persons interested, whether they have respectively appeared before the Collector or not, of the true area and value of the land, and apportionment of the compensation among the persons interested. "
In this case the award was filed in the Collector's office on 28-12-1951, and the question that we have to consider is whether it has become final and conclusive. It would become final and conclusive unless the case of the petitioners, fell in the exceptions provided in the subsequent sections. Sub-section (2) of Section 12 provides that the Collector shall give immediate notice of his award to such of the persons interested as are not present personally or by their representatives when the award is made. Now, a notice was given by the Collector of the filing of the award, but it is not now disputed that the notice was not given to the petitioners. It was given to a person by the name of Rustomji Pestonji. It was sent to the Mamlatdar for being served. As this Rustomji Festonji could not be traced, the notice was never served and a copy of the notice was sent to the petitioners only some time in April 1953. It is the petitioners' case in the correspondence that when they filed their claim they gave to the Collector's office the names of the claimants and their addresses and therefore there should have been no difficulty on the part of the Collector in serving the notices upon the petitioners at their proper addresses, and we are satisfied in this case that there was gross negligence on the part of the Collector's office in not serving the notices upon the petitioners. It is futile for the opponent, the Assistant Coliector, Thana, now to suggest that the reason why the notice was addressed to one Rustomji Pestonji is because he was the original trustee and in the Government records his name appeared. When a claim is made and the claimant's name and address are in the Collector's office, it seems difficult to understand why investigation should be made into other materials and other records when the Collector's office knows exactly the name of the claimant and his address as appears from the claim made by him.
(3.)THEN we come to Section 18 and that section provides :
" (1) Any person interested who has not accept-ed the award may, by written application tc 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 persons interested. "
Therefore, the right to apply to make a reference is vested in a person who is interested, and the petitioners are persons interested, as they are the trustees of this land. It is also necessary that before a person can apply he must not have accepted the award. It is well settled that the award made by the Collector in land acquisition proceedings, although it is termed an award and seems to suggest an adjudication binding between the parties, is only an offer which the Government makes to the claimant. It is open to the claimant to accept the offer, in which case the award would become final and conclusive and binding between the parties, or it is open to the claimant not to accept the offer, in which case he can proceed under Section 18 (1) and apply for a reference to the Court. There is a proviso to Section 18 and that proviso is: "provided that every such application shall be made, (a) if the person making it was present or represented before the Collector at the time when he made his award, within six weeks from the date of the Collector's award; (b) in other cases, within six weeks of the receipt of the notice from the Collector under section 12, Sub-section (2), or within six months from the date of the Collector's award. whichever period shall first expire. "