INAMPUDI UMAMAHESHWARA RAO Vs. STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners are challenging the validity of a notification issued under Section 4 (1) of the Land Acquisition Act, as amended by the Andhra Pradesh (Amendment) Act, (22 of 1976), on the following grounds, viz.. (i) that, the notification under Section 4 (1) was not published in the Gazette; (ii) that the substance of the notification was not published in the village, as required by law; and (iii) that, the Andhra Pradesh (Amendment) Act No. 22 of 1976 is unconstitutional and invalid. We may dispose of the first and the third objections in the first instance.

(2.) In the counter-affidavit it is stated that the notification under Section 4 (1) has been published in the Krishna District Gazette, dated 14-4-1979. A copy of the Gazette, found in the record, has also been placed before us. The first contention, therefore, fails.

(3.) So far as the third contention is concerned, a Full Bench of this Court has upheld the constitutionality of the Amendment Act, except in so far as it provides for payment of compensation in instalments in case of acquisition of agricultural lands below the ceiling limit. The third contention also, accordingly, fails.