- (1.) The appeal is a claim for enhancement of compensation on a reference made under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act. The reference was sought by the landowners on the ground that the Collector had not taken into consideration the potentiality of the land and in that the value of the property was actually Rs. 5,00,000/- per acre. The Collector had assessed a compensation of Rs. 60,000/- per acre for chahi land.
(2.) The notification had been issued on 04.04.1988 under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act for the purpose of construction of lower branch canal from RD 19198 to RD 191910 in village Kishanpura, Tehsil Rajpura, District Patiala. It appears from the original records that the award was passed on 28.04.1989 and the petition under Section 18 was received by the Collector on 08.06.1989. The actual date of communication of the award is not seen in the original records itself. The Collector has made a reference to the civil Court through a communication dated 05.08.1991 along with the petition filed under Section 18 filling up the recitals in the proforma to the effect that Sh. Manmohan Singh of village Kishanpura, Tehsil Rajpura, District Patiala "having not accepted the award dated 28.04.1989" has requested through the accompanying application that the matter be referred to district Court for determination of cost of the land. After the reference was brought before the Court and service of notice to the State, the State has filed his objections reiterating that the assessment made by the Collector was appropriate and just and there was no scope for enhancement. It is also stated in para 4 that the landowners had received the award without protest which amounted to acceptance of the award.
(3.) At the time of the trial, therefore, the issue was also whether the landowners had received the amount determined as compensation without protest so as to operate as estoppel for seeking a reference under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act. There is no objection, however, that the petition under Section 18 itself was not filed within 6 weeks from the date of Collector's award or that it was not within the 6 weeks from the date of receipt of notice from the Collector under Section 12(2) or at least within 6 months from the date of Collector's award.;