Mandatory land acquisition reference procedure bars civil court jurisdiction unless Section 18 requirements are strictly met.

A civil court cannot award enhanced land acquisition compensation unless a valid reference is made under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. The statutory mechanism requires an interested person to seek reference in writing after receiving compensation under protest, and the Collector must forward a reference containing the prescribed particulars. The reference procedure under Sections 18, 19 and 20 is mandatory, so jurisdiction of the civil court arises only on strict compliance. The special compensation scheme excludes ordinary civil jurisdiction under Section 9 CPC, and local notification-based modifications do not dispense with these requirements. In the absence of a valid reference, the decree was void for want of jurisdiction.

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Issues: Whether a civil court could assume jurisdiction to award enhanced compensation for land acquisition when no valid reference had been made under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, and whether the proceedings could be sustained by treating the suit as if it were a reference.

Analysis: The statutory scheme required an interested person receiving compensation under protest to make a written application requiring a reference, and the Collector was then bound to make a valid reference containing the particulars mandated by the Act. The Court held that the reference procedure under Sections 18, 19 and 20 was mandatory, and that the civil court derived jurisdiction only upon compliance with that statutory mechanism. The special procedure under the Act excluded recourse to the ordinary civil jurisdiction under Section 9 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 for determination of compensation disputes. The local notification adopting modifications to the Act did not dispense with the mandatory requirements of the reference procedure.

Conclusion: The civil court had no jurisdiction to entertain the suit as a claim for enhanced compensation in the absence of a valid reference under Section 18, and the decree was a nullity. The appeal was accordingly allowed in favour of the appellant.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statute prescribes a special procedure for compensation disputes, jurisdiction of the civil court arises only upon strict compliance with the mandatory reference requirements, and in the absence of such compliance the decree is without jurisdiction and void.

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