(1.) This petition under Article 226 of the Constitution raises some frequently recurring questions under the Land Acquisition Act 1894. It concerns four plots of land in Tigri, a village near Delhi. The petitioner, Major S. K. Gupta, purchased these and other lands from the Delhi Sainik Co-operative House Building Society Limited.Title was conveyed to him by a sale deed executed on 29th April 1971. As the lands arc neither contiguous nor part of the same field, they are described in the correspondence preceding the sale as 'scattered land'.
(2.) In January 1972, Delhi Administration decided to acquire a large area of land in village Tigri, including the four plots owned by the petitioner. Three notifications, all dated 28th February 1972, were published in the Delhi Gazette of 16th March 1972. Their distinctive numbers are (iii), (iv) and (v) which are suffixed to the number of the file from which they emanate. The numerical order accords with the statutory legal sequence.
(3.) Notification (iii) is a composite notification issued under sections 4 and 17(4) of the Land Acquisition Act. It intimates to 'all whom it may concern' that the land described therein 'is likely to be acquired'for a public purpose, namely, 'the Planned Development of Delhi'. Certain officers are then authorised 'with their servants and workmen to enter upon and survey any land in the locality and do all other acts required or permitted' by section 4. The last paragraph of this notification is important, and it reads as follows :