(Per : HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE D.H.WAGHELA)
1. The petitioner is aggrieved by order dated 3.12.2011 of the Special Land Acquisition Officer, whereby his application under Section 28-A of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, "the Act") has been rejected on the ground that he did not hold any authority on the date of making the application. The petitioner claims to be brother of the original holder of land, who had migrated to the United States after a parcel of his land being acquired pursuant to the proceedings initiated in the year 1992. After the award for compensation and filing of reference under Section 18 by some other claimants, the amount of compensation had come to be enhanced. Therefore, an application was made by the petitioner on behalf of his brother under Section 28-A of the Act for re-determination of the amount of compensation; and that application has come to be rejected by the impugned order.
2. It was vehemently argued by learned counsel, Mr.K.M.Sheth, that the petitioner was all along acting as administrator on behalf of his brother, who had migrated and he had filed the application under Section 28-A under an oral authority of his brother. He further submitted that, even as the application was filed in time, during the course of proceedings held by the land acquisition officer, he had procured and produced the power of attorney of his brother and it ought to have been relied upon for the purpose of re-determining the compensation. Learned counsel relied upon analogy of Section 5-A of the Act to submit that a representative or an authorized person should have been allowed to make an application under Section 28-A, although no express provision permitting a representative to file such application was made and no other provision or precedent could be cited in support of this submission.
3. In view of clear and express provisions of Section 28-A of the Act only authorizing the interested person to make necessary application under Section 28-A, and in absence of such phraseology as is deployed in the provisions of Section 5-A, it would not be permissible to stretch the language of law. Therefore, and in view of the admitted fact that the petitioner did not hold power of attorney of his brother on the date of making the application on 21.2.2009, the petition is not required to be entertained for grant of any relief, and hence, it is summarily dismissed.
(D.H.Waghela, J.) (G.B.Shah, J.) *malek Top