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TMI Blog2015 (8) TMI 1107X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... st, 1992 issued under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, a large extent of land measuring 35 acres and 09 gts. in Survey Nos.285, 287 and 288 situated in village Jallaram, Kamanpur Mandal and Karimnagar Districts was notified for acquisition for the benefit of the appellant-company. A final declaration in terms of Section 6 was made on 2nd March, 1994, the validity whereof was assailed by four owners (Pattadars), respondents in this appeal in Writ Petition No.27/483 of 1995 primarily on the ground that the declaration under Section 6 had been issued beyond the period of limitation stipulated for the purpose. An application for interim stay was also moved by the writ-petitioners, in which a Single Judge of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh granted an interim stay on 6th September, 1995. The writ petition was finally dismissed by the High Court by a judgment and order dated 20th July, 1999. Aggrieved by the said order of dismissal the respondent filed Writ Appeal No.1228 of 1999 which too failed and was dismissed by the Division Bench on 13th August, 1999. 4. With the dismissal of the writ petition and the appeal arising out of the same, the Collector made an Award under Secti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... where the said declaration has been published before the commencement of the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Act, 1984, the Award shall be made within a period of two years from such commencement. Explanation - In computing the period of two years referred to in this section, the period during which any action or proceeding to be taken in pursuance of the said declaration is stayed by an order of a Court shall be excluded." 8. It is evident from the above that in order to be valid, the Award must be made within a period of two years from the date of the publication of the declaration under Section 6 of the Act. The declaration in the instant case was published on 2nd March, 1994 while the Award was made on 5th November, 1999. The same was, therefore, clearly beyond two years' period stipulated under the above provisions. Even so the Award could be held to be valid if the same was within two years of the declaration after excluding the period during which the High Court had stayed the proceedings in the writ petition filed by the respondent-landowners. That is because Explanation to Section 11-A (supra) permits exclusion of the period during which the Court had stayed the acquisition ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... v. D.C. Nanjudaiah (1996) 10 SCC 619 having been overruled by this Court in case of Padma Sundara Rao's case, there was no question of placing reliance upon the ratio of the said two decisions. The contrary view expressed in A.S. Naidu and Others v. State of Tamil Nadu and Others (2010) 2 SCC 801 having been found to be the correct view, not only by the Constitution Bench in Padma Sundara Rao's case (supra) but also in R. Indira Sartchandra's case (supra), the ratio of the said decisions alone stated the correct legal position, which was squarely applicable to the case at hand. 10. It is, in our opinion, not necessary to delve deep into the merits of the contention urged on behalf of the appellant which is founded entirely on the ratio of the decision of this Court in N. Narasimhaiah's case (supra). Correctness of the view taken in N. Narasimhaiah's case (supra) was examined by the Constitution Bench of this Court in Padma Sundara Rao's case (supra) and overruled. If the matter rested there, we may have examined the question whether the prospective overruling of the decision in N. Narasimhaiah's case (supra) was of any assistance to the appellant in the facts and circumstances of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... inion, is a complete answer to the contention urged on behalf of the appellant that not only the period during which the interim order of stay remains in force but also the time taken for obtaining the copy of the order vacating the stay should be excluded for reckoning the period of two years stipulated under Section 11-A of the Act. 13. There is yet another dimension to the contention urged before us which too in our opinion stands concluded by the decision of this Court in Ravi Khullar and Another v. Union of India & Ors. (2007) 5 SCC 231. That was a case where a preliminary notification under Section 4 was issued on 23rd January, 1965 and a declaration under Section 6 published on 26th December, 1968 i.e. before the commencement of the Amendment Act of 1984. In terms of sub-section (1) of Section 11-A applicable to such a declaration, an Award was required to be made within a period of two years from such commencement. So calculated, the Award ought to have been made on or before 28th September, 1986 when the period of two years from the commencement of the Amendment Act of 1984 expired. The land owner however had filed a writ petition before the High Court on 12th September, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a certified copy of the judgment is excluded because a certified copy is required to be filed while preferring an appeal/revision/review, etc. challenging the impugned order. Thus a court is not permitted to read into Section 11-A of the Act a provision for exclusion of time taken to obtain a certified copy of the judgment and order. The Court has, therefore, no option but to compute the period of limitation for making an Award in accordance with the provisions of Section 11-A of the Act after excluding such period as can be excluded under the Explanation to Section 11-A of the Act." 14. This Court drew a comparison between Section 11-A and Section 28-A of the Act, and based on the difference between the two provisions, observed: "56. It will thus be seen that the legislature wherever it considered necessary incorporated by express words the rule incorporated in Section 12 of the Limitation Act. It has done so expressly in Section 28-A of the Act while it has consciously not incorporated this rule in Section 11-A even while providing for exclusion of time under the Explanation. The intendment of the legislature is therefore unambiguous and does not permit the court to read words ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lector under section 11, the persons interested in all the other land covered by the same notification under section 4, sub-section (1) and who are also aggrieved by the Award of the Collector may, notwithstanding that they had not made an application to the Collector under section 18, by written application to the Collector within three months from the date of the Award of the Court require that the amount of compensation payable to them may be re- determined on the basis of the amount of compensation Awarded by the Court: Provided that in computing the period of three months within which an application to the Collector shall be made under this sub- section, the day on which the Award was pronounced and the time requisite for obtaining a copy of the Award shall be excluded." (emphasis supplied) xxx xxx xxx 17. Absence of a provision analogous to proviso to Section 28A (supra) in the scheme of Section 11-A militates against the argument that the omission of such a provision in Section 11-A is unintended which could be supplied by the Court taking resort to the doctrine of casus omissus. 18. Secondly, because the legal position regarding applicability of the doctrine of casus om ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 39; said Lords Loreburn L.C., 'to read words into an Act of Parliament unless clear reason for it is to be found within the four corners of the Act itself.' A case not provided for in a statute is not to be dealt with merely because there seems no good reason why it should have been omitted, and the omission in consequence to have been unintentional. In regard to the latter principle the following statement of law appears in Maxwell at page 47: A statute is to be read as a whole-"It was resolved in the case of Lincoln College (1595) 3 Co. Rep. 58 that the good expositor of an Act of Parliament should 'make construction on all the parts together, and not of one part only by itself.' Every clause of a statute is to 'be construed with reference to the context and other clauses of the Act, so as, as far as possible, to make a consistent enactment of the whole statute.' (Per Lord Davey in Canada Sugar Refining Co., Ltd. v. R: 1898 AC 735) In other words, under the first principle a casus omissus cannot be supplied by the Court except in the case of clear necessity and when reason for it found in the four corners of the statute itself but at the same time a casu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 6(1) of the Land Acquisition Act so as to provide for exclusion of time taken for service of copy of the order upon the Collector. Repelling the contention this Court said: "12. The court cannot read anything into a statutory provision which is plain and unambiguous. A statute is an edict of the legislature. The language employed in a statute is the determinative factor of legislative intent. The first and primary rule of construction is that the intention of the legislation must be found in the words used by the legislature itself. The question is not what may be supposed and has been intended but what has been said. xxx xxx xxx 14. While interpreting a provision the court only interprets the law and cannot legislate it. If a provision of law is misused and subjected to the abuse of process of law, it is for the legislature to amend, modify or repeal it, if deemed necessary." 22. There is in the case at hand no ambiguity nor do we see any apparent omission in Section 11-A to justify application of the doctrine of casus omissus and by that route re-write 11-A providing for exclusion of time taken for obtaining a copy of the order which exclusion is not currently provided ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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