Judgment

GROVER, J.:- This is an appeal by special leave from a judgment of of the Allahabad High Court. The facts may be shortly stated.

By means of a notification dated April 19, 1949 issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter called the Act) it was notified for general information that the land mentioned in the schedule was needed for a public purpose. In the schedule the area was given as 117 Bighas and 9 Biswas. The schedule also contained the following:-

"For what purpose required: For the construction of residential quarters for the members of Aligarh Co-operative Housing Society Limited, Vishnupuri, Aligarh".

2. In November 1951 an agreement was entered into between the Governor of U.P. and the Co-operative Housing Society Ltd. Vishnupuri, Aligarh, in accordance with the provisions of Part VII of the Act. On November 30, 1951, a notification was issued under Section 6 of the Act in which it was stated that the Governor after considering the report made under S.5A (2) of the Act was pleased to declare under S.6 that he was satisfied that the land mentioned in the schedule was needed for a public purpose. Under S.7 the Collector was directed to take order for the acquisition of the land. In the schedule the same words appeared as appeared in the notification under S.4 viz.

"For what purpose required: For the construction of residential quarters for the members of the Aligarh Co-operative Housing Society Ltd., Vishnupuri, Aligarh."

On 22nd January 1962, an award was given with regard to an area covering 27 bighas odd.

3. It appears that 9 petitions were filed under Article 226 of the Constitution in the Allahabad High Court challenging the acquisition made. Some of these petitions were heard by Mathur J. who allowed them. The petition out of which this appeal has arisen was disposed of by Broome J. and he dismissed it. An appeal was filed before the Division Bench but the same was dismissed.

4. The first argument that has been sought to be raised before us on behalf of the appellant is that the notifications under Ss. 4 and 6 and, in particular, the notification under S.6 says that the land which was being acquired was needed for a public purpose and not for a company although in the schedule it was mentioned that the purpose for which it was required was the construction of residential quarters for the purpose of members of the Aligarh Co-operative Housing Society Ltd., Vishnupuri, Aligarh. A good deal of reliance has been placed on the decision of this Court in Shyam Behari v. State of Madhya Pradesh, (1964) 6 SCR 636 in which it was laid down that where the entire compensation is to be paid by a company (which is admittedly the case here) the notification under S.6 must contain a declaration that the land is needed for a company. No notification under S.6 can be made where the entire compensation is to be paid by a company declaring that the acquisition is for a public purpose. Such a declaration requires that either wholly or in part, compensation must come out of public revenues or some fund controlled or managed by a local authority. In that case, however, it is apparent that the public purpose which was mentioned in the notification issued under S.4 was "for the construction of buildings for godowns and administrative office". In the notification issued under S.6 all that was stated was that the land was needed for a public purpose, namely for the Premier Refractory Factory and work connected therewith. However, the company for which the land was required was the Premier Refractories of India Private Limited, Katni. It was under these circumstances that this Court pointed out that there was nothing in the notifications to show that the land was needed for the Premier Refractories of India Private Limited, Katni or any other company. All that the notification under S.6 said was that the land was needed for a public purpose and the public purpose mentioned there was that the land was required for t