BRISHKETU SARAN SINHA, J.

1. The four petitioners are brothers and their prayer in this application under Article 226 of the Constitution is to quash annexure 1, 3 & 6 appended to the application on the ground of being ultra vires, void and illegal. Annexure 1 is a notification dated the 14th February 1963, under section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, (hereinafter referred to as the Act) specifying therein the lands to be acquired. All these lands, it may be stated, are in a village known as Muri within Silli Police Station of the district of Ranchi and are adjacent to tile Muri Junction Railway station. Annexure 3 is a declaration under section 6 of the Act, with regard to the aforesaid lands and annexure 6 is a notice issued under section 12 of the Act, served on petitioner no. 1 Fakir Chand Bhattacharjee. The area of the lands to be acquired is 3.755 acres.

2. According to the petitioners, the acquisition proceedings relate to R. S. plot no. 728 which has an area of 1.60 acres and other block of lands. Plot no. 728 has on it certain vacant lands, a house and a cinema hall. The petitioners were not aware of the notification under section 4 of the Act, a copy of which is annexure 1 nor was it, according to them, hung at a convenient place in the locality of the proposed acquisition. However the petitioners came to learn about this acquisition and appealed to the Divisional Superintendent South Eastern Railways, Adra, to desist from the proposal of construction of goods shed and railway siding on the site to be acquired. It may be mentioned here that the acquisition was being made at the instance of the Railways for expanding the Muri Railway station. Together with this request to the Railway Authorities, the petitioners also submitted their objection. According to the petitioners, without considering the objection, the declaration under section 6 dated the 11th June, 1963, was published in the Bihar Gazette on 17th July, 1963 a copy of which, as I have said above, is annexure 3. In their letter written to the Railways against the proposed acquisition, the petitioners had pointed out various hardships that they would suffer. It seems that thereafter, whether on consideration of the petitioner representation or other consideration, the Railway Authorities wrote to the Deputy Commissioner, Ranchi, on the 28th December, 1963, that they would send a revised plan for acquiring lands relating to the remodeling and the construction of the good shed at the Muri Junction Station copy of this letter is annexure 5.

3. The petitioners have asserted that without giving an opportunity to the petitioners to Jay objection against the proposed acquisition, the land acquisition proceeding were pursued but till April, 1968, an award even under section 11 of the Act, was made. When notice under section 11 was served on the petitioners, on 3rd October, 1963 the petitioners objected to it on the ground that their application under section 5 A of the Act, filed very much earlier, i.e. on the 28th August, 1963, had not been disposed of. According to the petitioners, in view of annexure 5, the letter written by the Railway Authorities to the Deputy Commissioner. It was incumbent upon the Land Acquisition Authorities to have dropped the land acquisition proceedings initiated in the year 1963 and should have acted in terms of section 48 of the Act. Some grievance in the application has also been made about no provision having been made in the acquisition case with regard to compensation which the petitioners were entitled as a certain wall of tile cinema house had been broken and damaged. Reference has been made in the application to the amount of compensation that has been determined for payment to the petitioners and also the low rate of compensation for the lands acquired.

4. It is further asserted that all of a sudden on the 28th April, 1972, respondent no. 1 along with respondent no. 3 and accompanied with six armed constables came upon the l