JUDGMENT

K. RAMASWAMY, J.- This appeal by special leave arises from the order of the High Court, Bombay, dated 13-6-1979 in Writ Petition No. 587 of 1979. The Government of Maharashtra published in the State Gazette the notification issued under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (1 of 1894) (for short the Act) on 11-10-1972, acquiring the lands including House No. 594/B admeasuring about 25 x 25 for public trust "Saibaba Sansthan, Shirdi", the validity of which was challenged by the appellants in the writ petition. The Division Bench rejected their writ petitions in limine. Thus this appeal.

2. It is contended for the appellants that the specification of the "public purpose" in the notification is vague and acquisition for Saibaba Sansthan is not for a public purpose. For the first time before the High Court, the respondents had disclosed in their counter-affidavit, namely, that the land was needed for joining two temples, i.e., Saibaba and Dwaraka Mai Mandir. Even that also is of no public purpose, since those two temples have been in existence for well over years without any need for them to be connected. There is no specification either in the notification or in the