IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE THIRTEENTH DAY OF AUGUST TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 1353 of 2004 Between: 1 Vadala Sathyanarayana, S/o. Vadala Ramaiah, R/o. Allur. 2 Vadala Veeraiah, S/o. Vadala Ramaiah, R/o. Alluru. 3 Vadala Subrahamanyam, S/o. Vadala Ramaiah, R/o. Alluru. 4 Vishnu Murthy, S/o. Vadala Ramaiah, R/o. Alluru. ..... PETITIONERS AND The Special Deputy Collector, L.A. Unit, Srisailam Project, Alampur. .....RESPONDENT Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.KOTA SUBBA RAO Counsel for the Respondent: AGP FOR LAND ACQUISITION The Court made the following : O R D E R: This writ petition is filed for a writ of Mandamus to direct the respondent to refer the claim of the petitioners, for enhancement of compensation, under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short “the Act”) in respect of Acs.4.00 in Survey No.14/B of Jillelapadu Village, Alampur Mandal, Krishna District. In this case, award was passed by the Land Acquisition Officer on 31-08-1979. As there was a dispute regarding the persons entitled to receive compensation, the same was referred, under Section 30 of the Act, to the competent Civil Court, which was taken on file as O.P. No.1014 of 1979. The said O.P was disposed of on 26-08-1983. Admittedly, the petitioners received compensation in terms of the decree in O.P.No.1014 of 1979. The petitioners, in their affidavit, alleged that though they made a request to the respondent for referring the dispute, under Section 18 of the Act, the said request was not replied to nor reference was made as per the said request. Hence, they filed the present writ petition. In support of the petitioners’ claim, they filed letter dated 13- 02-2003, wherein they made a request to the respondent to refer the dispute to the Civil Court. In the said letter, they stated that after adjudication of the dispute under Section 30 of the Act in the year 1983, they have been continuously making requests to the respondent to refer the dispute to the Civil Court, but no such reference was made. Under proviso (b) to Section 18(2) of the Act, if a person was not present at the time of passing of the award, he is entitled to seek reference of dispute for enhancement of compensation, within two months from the date of receipt of award notice under Section 12(2) of the Act. In this case, the petitioners admitted the fact that after disposal of O.P on 26-08-1983, they received the compensation amount. Though they claimed that they made several requests to the respondent for reference of the dispute for enhancement of the compensation, no material is placed before this Court in support of the said claim. The petitioner filed a copy of representation dated 13-02-2003 by which time nearly 20 years elapsed from the time of their receiving compensation. In the counter-affidavit filed by the respondent, he denied receiving any request made by the petitioners for reference of the dispute. In the absence of any material to show that the petitioners approached the respondent with a request for reference of the dispute under Section 18 of the Act, within the period of two months as stipulated under the above mentioned provision, they are not entitled to any relief in this writ petition. The writ petition is, accordingly, dismissed. C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY, J Dated 13th August, 2008 vrn