(1) IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO. 5427 OF 2011 Madhav Baburao Mundhe PETITIONER VERSUS The State of Maharashtra & others RESPONDENTS ..... Mr. S.T. Shelke, advocate for the Petitioner. Mr. K.S. Patil, A.G.P. for the Respondent-State. ..... CORAM : B.R. GAVAI AND M.T. JOSHI, JJ. DATED : 26th AUGUST, 2011 ORAL ORDER: 1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith and heard by consent. 2. By way of present petition, the petitioner challenges Award dated 21st July, 2001, on the ground that the same is published beyond the period prescribed under Section 11A of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. 3. Section 11A of the Land Acquisition Act requires the Collector to make an award under section 11 within a period of two years from the date of the (2) publication of the declaration. 4. From the Award itself, in the present case, it would be seen that the declaration as required under section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act has been done on the following dates. (i) Notification by the Additional Commissioner 03/02/1999 (ii) Notification in Govt. Gazette 25/02/1999 (iii) Publication of Notification in Local Newspapers i.e. in Dainik Lokyug 16/02/1999 in Dainik Sarvamat 15/02/1999 (iv) Publication of Notification in the village 09/02/1999 5. Thus, it would be seen that even if the last date of publication of Notification in the Government Gazette is taken into consideration, the same will be 25th February, 1999. The Award is published on 21st July, 2001. As such, it is far beyond the prescribed period of two years and, therefore, is not permissible under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act. (3) 6. The Writ Petition is disposed of on this short ground. Rule is made absolute in terms of prayer clause "B". [M.T. JOSHI, J.] [B.R. GAVAI, J.] npj/wp5427-11