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 : 23896 of 2004 Between: 1 Sri V.Siva Sankar, s/o late V.Samba Siva Rao, r/o 2-402, Sivalayam Street, Vuyyuru, 521 165, Krishna District. 2 Smt.V.Lakshmi Lalitha Kumari, w/o late Venkatratnam, r/o 2-402, Sivalayam Street, Vuyyuru, 521 165, Krishna District. ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 Land Acquisition Officer & Sub Collector, Nuzvid, Krishna District. 2 District Collector, Machilipatnam, Krishna District. .....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 an order or direction of writ specially writ of mandamus directing the respondents to refer the award proceedings No.C/2421/86 dt.11- 1-1990 on the ﬁle of 1st respondent to refer to Civil Court U/s.18 of the Land Acquisition Act as per representation dated 12-02- 1990 of the petitioners for enhancement of compensation by declaring the inaction of the respondents in not referring the award to appropriate Civil Court as arbitrary, illegal and violative of Article 14 & 300-A of Constitution of India. Counsel for the Petitioners:MR.G.L.NARASIMHAM. 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.23896 of 2004 ORDER: This writ petition is ﬁled for a writ of Mandamus to direct the respondents to refer the claim of the petitioners, for enhancement of compensation, for reference under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short ‘the Act’), to the competent Civil Court. 2. In the aﬃdavit ﬁled in support of the writ petition, it is averred that after the award, dated 11.01.1990, was passed, the petitioners received the compensation under protest, and, on 12.02.1990, they made a request for reference. It is also averred that a legal notice was issued on 08.04.2003 for reference of dispute to Civil Court and that the same was acknowledged by respondent No.1 on the same day. 3. A perusal of the record shows that the petitioners ﬁled a purported copy of letter addressed by petitioner No.1, which bears 12.02.1990 as the date of the said letter. A perusal of the said letter shows that petitioner No.1 made a request to refer the dispute to the competent Civil Court. The said letter does not contain the signature or the stamp of respondent No.1 evincing its receipt by him. Under proviso (b) of Section 18 (2) of the Act, where the owner of the land was not present before the Collector at the time of passing of the award, he is required to ﬁle his claim within two months from the date or service of the notice from the Collector under Section 12 (2) of the Act, for reference to the Civil Court. Admittedly, the petitioners received the compensation amount on 12.02.1990. Unless, they are able to show that within two months thereafter they made such an application for reference, their claim shall be deemed to be time barred. As noted above, the purported copy of the letter does not contain any acknowledgement of its receipt by any of the respondents. Moreover, even if petitioners made such an application, there is no reason for them to wait for 13 long years before they caused the legal notice issued and wait for a further period of more than one year and eight months for ﬁling the present writ petition. The petitioners are not diligent in prosecuting their cause. 4. For the aforementioned reasons, the writ petition is dismissed. No costs. _______________________ C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY,J 25.08.2008 v v