Judgment

OJHA, J. :- These two appeals have been preferred against the judgment dated 11th March, 1987 of the Allahabad High Court in Writ Petition No. 6789 of 1982 (reported in 1987 All LJ 719). In the said writ petition a Notification dated 20th May, 1982 issued. under Section 4(1) read with Section 17(4) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) and also the consequential Notification dated 21st May, 1982 under Section 6 of the Act with regard to Plot No. 289 with an area of 3 bighas 14 biswa situate in village Kukra, District Muzaffarnagar in the State of Uttar Pradesh were challenged by Ratan Prakash Manga and Kuldeep Singh who are respondents 1 and 2 in Civil Appeal No. 3446 of 1987 and the appellants in Civil Appeal No. 3447 of 1987. For the sake of convenience these two persons shall hereinafter be referred to as respondents 1 and 2. The Notification under Section 4(1) of the Act was quashed in part in so far as it invoked Section 17(4) of the Act and thereby dispensed with inquiry under Section 5-A of the Act whereas the Notification under Section 6 was quashed as a whole with regard to the aforesaid Plot No. 289. Civil Appeal No. 3446 of 1987 has been preferred by the Krishi Utpadan Mandi Samiti Muzaffarnagar for whom the aforesaid plot had been acquired with a prayer that the judgment of the High Court may be set aside. Civil Appeal No. 3447 of 1987 on the other hand has been preferred by respondents 1 and 2 asserting that even the Notification under Section 4(1) of the Act should have been quashed by the High Court in its entirety and not only in so far as it invoked Section 17(4) of the Act.

2. Before dealing with the respective submissions made by learned counsel for the parties it is necessary to give some more facts. Initially a Notification dated 20th March, 1975 was issued under Section 4(1) of the Act for acquiring nearly 80 acres of land for the public purpose of construction of a market yard for the appellant, Krishi Utpadan Mandi Samiti, Muzaffarnagar. About 5 months thereafter, however, this Notification was superseded and another Notification was issued under Section 4(1) with regard to only 60 acres of land. The Notification issued on 20th March, 1975 included Plot No. 289 aforesaid whereas the subsequent Notification which is dated 30th August, 1975 did not include the said plot along with several other plots. Subsequently, however, another Notification was issued on 26th October, 1978 under Section 4(1) read with Section 17(4) of the Act with regard to 19.47 acres of land including Plot No. 289. This Notification really seems to be with regard to that portion of land which even though included in the earlier Notification dated 20th March, 1975 had been excluded in the subsequent Notification dated 30th August, 1975. The Notification dated 26th October, 1978 was followed by a Notification under Section 6 dated 27th October, 1978. About four months prior to the issue of these Notifications respondents 1 and 2 had purchased Plot No. 289 aforesaid on 7th June, 1978. The purpose for which respondents 1 and 2 purchased Plot No. 289 was shown by them in their writ petition filed before the High Court as construction of a residential colony. According to them in furtherance of that purpose they executed three sale deeds one each on 10th November, 1978, 16th November, 1978 and 7th December, 1978. The first of these three sale deeds had been executed in favour of one Smt. Dhanwanti Agarwal, the second one in favour of Smt. Santosh Kumari and the third one in favour of Shri Janardhan Das and Ram Kumar. The writ petition filed by respondents 1 and 2 in the High Court indicates that Smt. Dhanwanti Agarwal and Smt. Santosh Kumari were wives of two gazetted officers and the third purchaser Ram Kumar too was a Government servant.

3. The respondents 1 and 2 challenged the Notifications dated 26th October, 1978 and 27th October, 1978 referred to above before the High Court in Writ Petition No