1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY, BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO. 1572 OF 2009 1. Dwarkadas s/o Gulabchand Loya, Age : 63 years, Occu.Agri., r/o Shrinagar 2. Chandrakant Eknath Kulkarni, Age : 72 years, Occu.Agri., r/o Warwanti, at present Nandgaon, 3. Sambhaji s/o Ganpati Madane, Age : 48 years, Occu.Agri., r/o LIC Colony 4. Kashibai Deelip Madane, Age : 43 years, Occu.Agri and Household, r/o Madane nagar, All r/o Latur, Tq. and Dist. Latur ..PETITIONERS VERSUS 1. The State of Maharashtra, Through the Collector, Latur 2. The Land Acquisition Officer @ Sub-Divisional Officer, Latur ..RESPONDENTS Mr S.V. Suryawanshi, Advocate holding for Mr K.S. Bhore for the petitioners; Mr V.H. Dighe, A.G.P. for respondents. 2 CORAM : P.V. HARDAS AND A.V. POTDAR, JJ DATE : 25th August 2009 ORAL JUDGMENT [ PER P.V.HARDAS , J ] 1. Rule. Rule returnable forthwith. With the consent of learned Counsel for the parties these petitions are heard finally at the stage of admission. 2. We have heard Shri S.V. Suryawanshi, learned Counsel for the petitioners and Shri V.H. Dighe, learned A.G.P. on behalf of respondents no.1 & 2. By this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India the petitioners pray for issuance of a writ directing the respondents to forward the Reference filed by the petitioners under section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act i.e. under section 34 of the M.I.D.C. Act, 1961 to the Civil Court for determination of compensation. 3. According to the petitioners, an award under section 11 of the Land Acquisition Act came to be passed on 29.5.2006 and on 10.7.2006 the petitioners submitted an application seeking reference under section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act. Since the application of the petitioners was not forwarded by the respondents to the competent Civil Court, the petitioners filed an 3 application on 25.1.2008 requesting the respondents to forward the application of the petitioners to the Civil Court for determination of the compensation. Since the application is still pending with the respondents, the petitioners have filed the present petition. 4. In the light of the fact that no orders have been passed on the application of the petitioners by the respondents, we direct the respondents to examine the application of the petitioners submitted under section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act and if the said application is competent i.e. within the prescribed period of limitation and there are no objections, the respondents to pass necessary orders in accordance with law within a period of eight weeks from today. 5. Rule is thus made absolute on the above terms with no order as to costs. ( A.V.POTDAR ) ( P.V.HARDAS ) JUDGE JUDGE amj/wp1572.09 4