IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No.10679 of 2011 1. Arun Pandey S/o late Shiv Narayan Pandey 2. Ramdev Pandey, S/o late Sita Ram Pandey 3. Gopal Pandey S/o late Ishwar Dayal Pandey 4. Gauri Shanakar Roy 5. Ram Bihari Roy 6. Rajnath Roy 7. Chandrasekhar Roy 8. Dilip Kumar Roy S/o late Suryadeo Roy 9. Haribansh Roy S/o late Raghupati Roy 10. Shakina Khatoon Widow of late Jamal Miya 11. Rustam Miya S/o late Mustafa Miay 12. Md. Anwar Khan S/o late Abdul Latif 13. Snehlata Verma S/o Sri Gyan Mohan Prasad Lal 14. Shri Niwas Roy S/o late Sarwjeet Roy 15. Ram Janam Roy S/o late ramvilash Roy 16. Ram Prawesh Roy S/o late Ram Ashish Roy 17. Shruti Mohan Verma @ Surti Mohan Verma S/o late Girish Lal Verma 18. Mustafa Khan S/o late Jumman Kha All residents of village- Mahesh Ram PS- Kahalgoan (Pirpainti) Distt- Bhagalpur-------- Petitioners Versus 1. The State Of Bihar 2. The Collector, Bhagalpur 3. The Special Land Acquisition Officer, Special Land Acquisition Office Medium Irrigation Scheme Bhagalpur—Respondents ----------- For the Petitioners: Mr. Ganpati Trivedi, Advocate Mr. Madan Mohan, Advocate Mr. Sambhu Prasad Gupta, Advocate For the State: Mr. Krishna Chandra AC to A.G. --------------- 2 28.7.2011 Matter arises out of a land acquisition proceeding initiated which was registered as Land Acquisition Case No. 9/87-88. Sometime in the year 2006 the stage of section 12(2) of the Land Acquisition Act reached when notices were received by the petitioners with regard to compensation. They have filed application addressed to the Collector through Special Land Acquisition Officer, Medium Irrigation Project Bhagalpur regarding the order for higher rate of compensation. It seems that instead of Collector the Special Land Acquisition Officer dealt with the matter and rejected the application of the petitioners and refused to 2 make a reference on the ground that in terms of letter no. DLA32/92- 925 dated 15.7.1992 the power to make such a reference vests in the Collector and not him. When the matter was taken up before the Collector in appeal he also rejected the case on the ground that he can only work in quasi judicial capacity and not against such a decision, which compelled the petitioners to approach this Court. Submission of learned counsel representing the petitioners is that the word or expression “Collector” has been used in the Land Acquisition Act extensively but the said word has been defined under the definition clause of Section 3 (c) of the Act which includes Additional Collectors as well so far as the State of Bihar is concerned or any officer specially appointed or designated for this purpose. From perusal of record it seems that the Special Land Acquisition Officer seems to be designated officer as a Collector in the present case. But even if for the sake of argument it is accepted that he had certain reservation or misgiving with regard to the fact whether he had the requisite authority to make a reference, he should not have rejected the claim of the petitioners in the fashion which has been done by the order dated 21.12.2006. This Court is of the opinion that there was no legal impediment as such if the Court goes by the definition clause of the local amendment made by the State of Bihar. However by quashing annexure-2 dated 21.12.2006 this writ application is allowed. A direction is issued to the Collector, Bhagalpur that the application filed by the petitioners on 18.4.2006 will now be entertained by him and decision render with regard to making a reference without going into the 3 thicket of the argument on the question whether the Land Acquisition Officer would be deemed to be Collector under the Act or not. On the petitioners’ filing applications enclosing a copy of the application filed earlier dated 18.4.2006 with a copy of this order, the Collector will have an obligation to hear the parties and decide the matter. The collector thereafter will examine the claim and take a decision with regard to the reference within a period of three months from the date of production/communication of the order. This writ application is allowed with the above direction. RPS ( Ajay Kumar Tripathi, J.)