Parsottambhai Maganbhai Patel And Ors vs State Of Gujarat Through Deputy ...

The Supreme Court held that the application for reference under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, filed beyond six months from the award declaration, is not barred by limitation if the claimants were not present at the award declaration and did not receive notice under Section 12(2). The Court emphasized that limitation should be computed from the date of knowledge of the award, which was in July 1988 for the appellants. Consequently, the Court set aside the High Court's ruling and upheld the Assistant Judge's finding that the application was timely.