THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE R. SUBHASH REDDY Writ Petition No. 24563 of 2005 Dated: 16.07.2007 Between: Smt. Turka Hussainibi, W/o Nabi Rasool, aged 46 years, R/o Bijinavemula village, Koilakuntla Mandal, Kurnool District and others. ..... PETITIONERS And The Special Deputy Collector, Land Acquisition, S.R.B.C., Nlandyal, Kurnool District. .....RESPONDENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE R. SUBHASH REDDY Writ Petition No. 24563 of 2005 Order: In this writ petition, the petitioners question the order passed by the respondent in L.Dis.No.105/2003, dated 22.01.2004, rejecting their applications filed under Section 28-A of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for brevity ‘the Act’). The petitioners, who are three in number, are the owners and possessors of lands admeasuring 0.42 cents in Survey No.510/1B, 0.39 cents in Survey No.511/1B and 0.36 cents in Survey No.519/2B within the village limits of Bijinivemula of Koilkuntla Mandal, Kurnool District, respectively. The said lands were acquired by issuing necessary notification under Section 4(1) of the Act for the public purpose of digging Srisailam Right Branch Canal. After conducting necessary enquiry, the award was passed under Award No.23 of 1998-1999 by fixing the compensation at the rate of Rs.30,000/- per acre. One of the claimants, namely Smt. D. Syamala Devi, whose land was also acquired and covered by same notification, dissatisfied with the quantum of compensation, sought for a reference under Section 18 of the Act and the same was referred to and was numbered as O.P. No. 214 of 2000 on the file of the learned Senior Civil Judge, Allagadda. The said reference Court, by its judgment dated 06.02.2003, enhanced the compensation from Rs.30,000/- to Rs.45,000/- per acre with all other statutory benefits. Thereafter, the petitioners herein, who did not seek reference, have applied for certified copies of order and decree in O.P. No. 214 of 2000 and the same were furnished to them on 24.04.2003. Thereafter they filed applications on 29.05.2003 under Section 28-A of the Act requesting for re-determination of compensation for their lands also in the light of the adjudication in O.P. No. 214 of 2000 on the file of the Senior Civil Judge, Allagadda. The applications filed by the petitioners were rejected by the Special Deputy Collector, S.R.B.C., Nandyal, Kurnool District, by impugned endorsement in L.Dis/105/2003, dated 22.01.2004, mainly on the ground that the applications filed by the petitioners under Section 28-A of the Act are beyond the period of three months from the date of passing of award by the Civil Court. It is the grievance of the petitioners that the Land Acquisition Officer i.e., the Special Deputy Collector, S.R.B.C., Nandyal, without properly considering the applications filed by them for re-determination of compensation, and without deleting the period which was taken for obtaining certified copies in O.P. No.214 of 2000, rejected their applications on the ground that the said applications were filed beyond the period of three months from the date of passing of award by the Civil Court. It is submitted that the copy application was made on 17.02.2003 and copy was made ready on 24.04.2003. In that view of the matter the rejection of the claim made by the petitioners is without any basis. A counter affidavit is filed by the Special Deputy Collector, Land Acquisition, Telugu Ganga Project, Nandyal, wherein, in clear terms, it is stated that by mistake the period spent in the Court for obtaining the certified copies of order and decree in O.P. No.214 of 2000 was not taken into account while computing the period of three months. The proviso to Sub-Section (1) of Section 28-A of the Act, which is inserted by Act 68 of 1984, is very clear that the application for re-determination of amount of compensation has to be filed within a period of three months from the date of adjudication by the reference Court. However, a reading of the proviso makes it very clear that in computing the period of three months the time requisite for obtaining a copy of the award shall be excluded. In this case, it is not in dispute that the copy application for furnishing certified copies of order and decree in O.P. No. 214 of 2000 was filed on 17.02.2003 and copy was made ready on 24.04.2003. In that view of the matter, the applications filed by the petitioners under Section 28-A of the Act on 29.05.2003 are very much within the period of three months from the date of award of the reference court, and the impugned endorsement made by the respondent in rejecting the applications of the petitioners is contrary to proviso to Section 28-A of the Act. Accordingly, the impugned order is quashed, and there shall be a direction to the respondent to decide the claims of the petitioners for determining compensation under Section 28-A of the Act by passing appropriate orders within a period of three months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. Subject to the directions as indicated above, the writ petition is allowed. No order as to costs. _____________________ R. SUBHASH REDDY, J. Date: 16.07.2007 Nsr