The invocation of the urgency clause under Section 17 of the Land Acquisition Act was justified based on the time-bound nature of the project and the need to complete the power plant within the specified timeframe.

( 1 ) ALL these writ petitions can be disposed of by a common order since they question the validity of the land acquisition proceedings, particularly the invocation of urgency clause viz. , Section 17 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, (hereinafter referred to as the act ).

( 2 ) THE facts leading to these writ petitions may briefly be stated as follows :- the Mangalore super thermal power project (hereinafter referred to as the project) is a project under the national thermal power. Corporation Ltd. , (hereinafter referred to as the corporation ). The corporation is a generating company incorporated under the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1948. It has its registered office at ntpc bhavan, scope complex, No. 7, lodhi road, New Delhi. The corporation was set upby the government of India in the year 1975. The object of setting up this corporation is to supplement the shortfalls in the requirement of electrical energy by the various states. The corporation set up various super thermal power projects in different parts of the country, and it is now proposing to set up one such project in dakshina kannada district of the Karnataka state, primarily for the benefit of the people of the Karnataka state. As a matter of fact the then chief minister wrote as early as 4th october, 1988 to the minister for energy, govt. Of India , as follows :-"dcar Shri vasant satheji, as you arc aware, Karnataka state has facing a grim situation on the power front especially because of its heavy dependence on hydro-power (more than 80% ). The continuation of drought during the last four years had hit power production in the state adversely. As against a connected load of around 7300 mw in the Karnataka grid, the state has an installed capacity of only 2529 mw as on today. The energy availability from the internal sources is only of the order of 7800 mu as against a total projected unrestricted demand of 18420 mu. Taking into account, the state's share of energy available from the central projects in the southern region and also the possible imports from other states, we can at best muster around 14366 mu only. Even the projects under implementation with an aggregated installed capacity of 1200 mw would not be able to meet the growing demand for electrical power in the slate. In fact it is estimated by 1994-95 the demand gap would exceed 1000 mw at least. You will agree that such continuing shortage of power would cripple the growth of the state both on the industrial and agricultural fronts. With a view to meet the growing power demand, it would be necessary for the state government to add large blocks of power during the 8th and 9th five year plan periods by taking up super thermal power stations at suitable locations. Karnataka power corporation has investigated and prepared a feasibility report for the establishment of a multifuel thermal power station at nandikur near mangalorc. This site has infrastructure facilities necessary for a thermal power station of an ultimate installed capacity of around 2000 mw. The project report for the I stage of the project has been submitted to the central electricity authority and other agencies of the government of India , for clearance. The necessary data and clarifications to the various agencies have been already submitted and we are expecting the clearance of the project from various angles for implementation. At this stage, I would like to bring to your notice that government of India have not made so far any investments in power projects in the state of Karnataka. I, therefore, request government of India to direct the ntpc to take up the implementation of multifilel thermal power station at nandikur near Mangalore as a part of their programme of achieving the additional power generation capacity in the country during the 8th plan period. However, ntpc should plan for installing in the first phase itself 1260 mw or at least 1000 mw capacity and an ultimate installed capacity of 2000 mw at this stati