ORDER

These appeals by special leave arise from the Division Bench judgment of the Calcutta High Court dated May 27, 1975 in FMA Nos. 1021-25/73.

2. It is not necessary to narrate all the facts in these cases. Suffice it to state that notification under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, the Act ) was published on May 14, 1956 for reclamation of the fisheries in the lands comprising cadastral plots enumerated in the notification, of an extent admeasuring more or less 8760.53 acres. Declaration under Section 6 was published on January 5, 1971 declaring that the land for the reclamation of the Southern Salt Lake area was published. We are concerned presently to an extent of 1495.93 acres only. It was contended in the High Court and also repeated by Dr. S. Ghosh, learned senior counsel, that the "land", as defined under Section 3(a) does not include fisheries; that is made explicit by the West Bengal Amendment Act, 1981 bringing within the ambit of the word land . It would indicate that the authorities have understood that the Act does not apply to acquisition of the fisheries rights and, therefore, the acquisition was without authority of law. In support there