BIRENDRA PRASAD SINHA, J.

1. By this application under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India the petitioners, eleven in number, all residents of village Itahri, P.S. Moffasil, District Monghyr, have challenged Annexure-1 series and 2 and have prayed for issuance of a writ of certiorari quashing the same Annexures-1 to 1(f) are notices dated 22-7-96 under S.4 of the Land Acquisition Act hereinafter referred to as the Act for Acquisition of 9.65 acres of land appertaining to Kheera Nos. 1393 to 1395, part of Kheera 1474, 1495 to 1505 and 1816 situate in village Itahri, Thana No. 109, District Monghyr, for rehabilitation of some flood affected families of village Pairu Mandal Tola. The operation of Sec. 5A of the Act has been dispensed with. Annexure-2 is the gazette notification dated 22-9-76, under Sec. 6 of the Act, published in the extraordinary issue of the Monghyr District Gazette dated the 24th of July, 1976.

2. From the writ application and the various affidavits counter-affidavits and reply to the counter-affidavits, the following facts emerge. It appears that village Pairu Mandal Tola was eroded by flood is the month of July, 1975 and the affected families of this Tola were temporarily settled on the flanks of the Monghyr Bhagalpur P. W. D. Road. Quite a large number of families were living on the flanks since then and were exposed to the hazards of speeding vehicles and weather. It was found necessary to acquire suitable land for the re-settlement of these families. The necessity far taking recourse to emergency provisions of the Act, it appears, arose because the affected families of Pairu Mandal Tola were precariously stranded on the P. W. D. highway and the land under acquisition was found by the authorities to be most suitable for the purpose.

3. The petitioners state that the villagers of Itahri have been very often subjected to land acquisition proceeding and have been deprived of a considerable area of land. The population of village Itahri is about five thousand and the total area of land about 1300 acres, some of which go under water during the floods. In the past, about 100 acres of land of village Vijaynagar were acquired, out of which 25 acres belonged to the villagers of Itahri. Moreover, the flood affected people of Sonu Mandel Tola, Udaypur Budhwa Disra Tola have also been rehabilitated win up land by the side of the P. W. D. road due to which the villagers of Itahri have already lost hundreds of acres of up and fertile lands. Due to frequent acquisition of lands of. this village, the villagers of Itahri feel greatly concerned (vide Annexure-3 which is a report of the Block Development Officer). Petitioners further state that the lands proposed to be acquired form a small strip close to their houses and they have no other land where the growing population of the village can settle in future. During the rainy season when the lands are inundated, this strip of land is the only place where the petitioners keep their cattle. In fact, some of the petitioners have their cattle-sheds on the lands proposed to be acquired. About 100 acres of land in Vijaynagar Tola of village Itahri have been previously acquired out of which 75 acres of land have actually been used for constructing houses for the flood affected people of different villages. Twenty-five acres of land remained vacant when sometime back the Tatas undertook to construct model houses. The flood affected families of village Pairu Mandal Tola could be settled there but they were insisting for the lands proposed to be acquired. The petitioners and other villagers even offered alternative sites suitable for settling the flood affected families of Pairu Mandal Tola and were still prepared to offer 16 acres of land appertaining to Khata No. 211. plot Nos. 1750 and 1751, belonging to Ramsarup Singh.

4. Shri Ugra Singh appearing on behalf of the petitioners very emphatically contended that the entire land acquisition proceeding was mala fi