- (1.) Land holdings of the petitioners before this Court was admittedly acquired under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (herein after referred to as the 'Act, 1894') on 31.10.2001 issued under Section 4 of the Act, 1894 followed by notification dated 31.1.2002 under Section 6 of the Act, 1894. Possession of the acquired land was taken on 23.3.2002. From the records of the present petition it is apparent that before the Award could be made in respect of the acquired land, the petitioner is stated to have entered into an Agreement with the respondent authority under the U.P. Land Acquisition (Determination of Compensation and Declaration of Award by Agreement) Rules, 1997 (herein after referred to as the 'Rules, 1997'). In terms of the Agreement entered into between the parties, a compensation of Rs. 69,32,848/- was paid to the petitioner on 22.3.2002. This money is stated to have been accepted by the petitioner under protest.
(2.) The Award was made on 21.7.2002. Within one month of the said Award, the petitioners made an application wherein it was stated that they had been asked to sign/put thumb impression on certain blank papers by respondent authorities on the assurance that the money which is to be paid to them is only 80% of the total compensation as and when the Award is made, the remaining 20% shall also be paid to them. But after publication of the Award, the petitioners found that such assurance was false and that the money which has been received by them is being taken as the entire compensation. This according to the petitioner amounts to fraud and poor farmers like the petitioners have been deceived by the respondents in the matter of compensation.
(3.) The petitioners, therefore, made an application before the Special Land Acquisition Officer on 23.8.2003 for a reference being made under Section 18 of the Act, 1894. This application of the petitioners has been rejected under the impugned order dated 23.6.2008.;