Narasimham, J.

1. The two petitioners claim to be owners of some plots of lands in mauza Hesag, close to Ranchi town. They challenged the validity of the land acquisition proceedings taken by the State of Bihar for acquisition of their lands and the lands of other persons in village Hesag and other neighbouring villages, such as. Kachnartoli, Kalyanpur and Hinoo. The facts have not been fully and correctly stated in the petition, and to ascertain the true facts one has to carefully scrutinise the counter-affidavit filed on behalf of the State of Bihar by the Head Clerk of the Land Acquisition Office, Ranchi. On a careful scrutiny of all the papers the salient facts appear to be as follows.

In connection with the well known Hatia Project, which was started mainly for the construction of the factories and other buildings of the Heavy Engineering Corporation at Hatia near Ranchi town, land acquisition proceedings were initiated by the Revenue Department of the Government of Bihar on a requisition sent by the Industries Department. The notification under Sec. 4 of the Land Acquisition Act (hereinafter referred to as the Act") was issued on the 10th August, 1959 (Annexure A) by