SANDHIYAVU PILLAI Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this writ petition the petitioner questions the validity of a notification under S.3(1) of the Kerala Land Acquisition Act, 1961 (Act 21 of 1962).

(2.) The Special Tahsildar for Land Acquisition, Precision Instruments Project, Palghat, published the preliminary notification under S.3(1) for the acquisition of lands covering an extent of hundred acres. The notification stated that the land is needed for a public purpose for the establishment of an Automobile Tyre Project at Walayar, Pudusseri, Palghat. The submission of the petitioner is that the Government are not proposing to acquire the land for the above purpose but for the purpose of a company and therefore the notification ought to be quashed.

(3.) In the counter affidavit filed by the third respondent it is stated that the acquisition is for a limited company, namely, the Bharat Tyre and Rubber Company Limited, Ernakulam, incorporated under the Companies Act and falling within the definition in S.2 of the Kerala Land Acquisition Act and that in respect of such an acquisition it is the provisions in Part VII and not Part VIII of the Kerala Land Acquisition Act which are applicable. The learned Government Pleader submitted that even though the notification under S.3(1) was that the land was needed for the purpose of establishing a project there is nothing which precludes the authorities from showing that the land is needed not for a project but for a company. It was submitted that the word 'Project' as used in the notification was not used in the sense in which that term bears in the Act.