Enquiry and the Land Acquisition Award by the Collector: Section 23

Section 23 is the procedure's point of delivery: the Collector, with the measurements made, the claims assembled and the objections on record, holds the enquiry and makes the land acquisition award, the instrument that states what the land is, what must be paid for it, and to whom. This note covers the enquiry's subject matter, the award's three statutory components, the award's legal character, and its relationship to the separate R&R award.

1. The Enquiry

On the day fixed by the Section 21 notice (or to which the enquiry is adjourned), the Collector proceeds to enquire into:

• the objections which any person interested has stated, pursuant to the notice, to the measurements made under Section 20;
• the value of the land at the date of the publication of the preliminary notification, the valuation date the Act fixes once and for all at Section 11, so that neither the acquisition's announcement nor its delay changes the price; and
• the respective interests of the persons claiming the compensation and rehabilitation and resettlement, who holds what, and in what proportion the award's sums must flow.

The enquiry is the Collector's, but it is a hearing, not a file-reading: persons interested appear in person or by representative, statements are tested, and the Collector carries the statutory powers of summons and evidence the Act provides for the purpose (Topic 34). Its product is the award, made with the previous approval of the appropriate Government or its authorised officer where the rules so arrange.

2. The Award's Three Components

3. The Award's Legal Character

• An offer, binding on the State: on the settled doctrine the Collector's award is an offer of compensation on behalf of the State: it binds the acquirer, while the person interested who is dissatisfied may seek the reference to the LARR Authority under Section 64, acceptance under protest preserving the claim.
• Final between Collector and claimants, as the Act provides: Section 37 gives the award filed in the Collector's office conclusive effect between the Collector and the persons interested as to area, compensation and apportionment (Topic 35), subject always to the reference and the correction powers.
• Time-bound: the award must be made within twelve months of the declaration, on pain of the proceedings lapsing altogether (Section 25, Topic 33).
• Notice of the award: the Collector gives immediate notice of the award to the persons interested as the Act requires, notice that starts the practical clocks of payment, possession and reference.

4. Two Awards, One Acquisition

The 2013 Act splits what the 1894 Act never had to think about: the Collector makes the land acquisition award under Section 23 for the land and its compensation, and a separate Rehabilitation and Resettlement award under Section 31 for each affected family, carrying the Second Schedule entitlements the approved scheme individuates (Topic 47). The two awards answer different losses, property and life-rebuilding, reach different classes, persons interested and affected families, and both must be honoured before the Act lets possession pass (Section 38). For the examiner the distinction is the section's favourite question; for the practitioner it is a checklist: an acquisition with a perfect Section 23 award and no Section 31 award has completed half its statutory duty.

5. Related Topics and Provisions

• Period for the award (Topic 33): the Section 25 guillotine
• Finality of awards (Topic 35): Section 37's conclusiveness
• Determination of compensation (Topics 36 to 39): the Section 27 arithmetic
• The R&R award (Topic 47): the second half of the duty