IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) MONDAY, THE TWENTY FIFTH DAY OF AUGUST TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 11524 of 2004 Between: 1 Ashok S/o Deva Reddy 2 Hussian S/o Vitya 3 J.Rukumbai W/o Ramanna 4 Tanba S/o Narayan @ Nago Rao 5 Ramdas S/o Hussain 6 Rambai W/o Ram Reddy 7 Pabba Buchanna S/o Chinnaiah 8 Vitabai W/o Maruti 9 Keshav S/o Ganga Reddy 10 Keshav Reddy S/o Linga Reddy 11 Chinna Devanna S/o Devanna 12 Tanba Patel S/o Late Gangaram 13 Ram Reddy S/o Linganna 14 Pochanna S/o Nana 15 Bogipothalingu S/o Devanna 16 Ch. Mukund Patel S/o Late Gangaram 17 Santosh S/o Late Sudam Patel 18 Shala Pedda Devanna S/o Devanna 19 Lingubai W/o Vittal 20 Vinayak s/o Dudam Patel 21 Rukmabai W/o Chinnaiah 22 M.Lasmi Bai W/o Late Shyam Rao 23 Narsingu S/o Bhojanna 24 Narayana S/o Naga Rao 25 J.Rambai W/o Krishnaiah 26 Potha Reddy S/o Linga Reddy 27 Ganga Reddy S/o Bhojanna 28 Santosh Reddy S/o Linga Reddy All the Petitioners are R/o Kutumbpur Village, Mandal Jainath, Adilabad District. ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 The Revenue Divsional Officer Cum the Land Acquistation officer, Adilabad, District, Adilabad. 2 The Executive Engineer, I & C.A.D.D. M.I.P. Division, Adilabad District Adilabad. .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Aﬃdavit ﬁled herein the High Court may be pleased to issue a writ order or direction, or issue an appropriate writ, more particularly one in the nature of writ of Mandamus: i) Direction to the respondent No.1 herein to refer the application dt. 17/07/1998 ﬁled by the petitioners herein under section 18 of Land Acquisition Act, in the land Acquisition award passed by the respondent No.1 herein vide Proc.No. B/1318/1996, dt. 4/06/1998 to the competent civil court for determination of proper market value; ii) Declare the action of respondents in rejecting the said application on the sole ground of not receiving the compensation by the petitioners under protest, which was informed through letter vide L.Dis.No.B/914/04, dt. 16/06/2004, as illegal, arbitrary, violative of Article 14,21, 31-A , 300-A of Constitution of India; Counsel for the Petitioners:MR.S.CHANDRASEKHAR Counsel for the Respondents: AGP FOR LAND ACQUISITION The Court made the following : THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION No.11524 of 2004 ORDER: This writ petition is ﬁled for a writ of Mandamus to direct respondent No.1 to refer claim, dated 17.07.1998, ﬁled by the petitioners for reference under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short ‘the Act’) in respect of Award proceedings No.B/1318/96, dated 04.06.1998, to the competent Civil Court for determination of proper market value. The petitioners also sought for setting aside the letter, dated 06.06.2004, issued by respondent No.1. 2. Heard Sri S.Chandrasekhar, learned counsel for the petitioners, and the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Land Acquisition. 3. The only ground on which the request of the petitioners for reference of the dispute under Section 18 of the Act was rejected was that the petitioners have received the compensation without registering protest. 4. I n District Collector, Kakinada, East Godavari District and others v. P.Nagabhushana Rao and others [1], a Full Bench of this Court held in categorical terms that when reference is sought within the period of limitation, failure to lodge protest expressly would not amount to waiver of right to seek reference and that making a request within the period of limitation will impliedly infer that the claimant/person interested has accepted the amount with protest. 5. In view of the said authoritative pronouncement by the Full Bench, the reason of rejection cannot be sustained. 6. The writ petition is, accordingly, allowed. Respondent No.1 is directed to refer the claim of the petitioners, for enhanced compensation, under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, to the competent Civil Court within a period of eight weeks from today. _____________________ C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY,J 25th August, 2008 v v [1] 2003(6) ALT 353 (F.B.)