( 1 ) THIS appeal involves what ultimately boiled down to a short point.

( 2 ) IT appears that on 19-2-1945, the then Government of Bengal, acting on behalf of the Government of India, requisitioned the road system lying on premises No. 22, Dover Lane. They also requisitioned by notifications issued on the same date the building sites comprised within the same premises, which had previously been sold out to as many as fifty-three persons. The previous history of the plot of land is that it belonged to a concern, called the Regent Estates Limited. In 1940, Messrs Talbot and Company, acting on behalf of the Regent Estates Limited, submitted plans to the Corporation of Calcutta in respect of this plot wherein the land was shown as divided into several plots and a sewer and road system was also shown. The Corporation appears to have told the representatives of the owners that they would sanction the plans if a small strip of land lying on the northern extrimity was also acquired. That strip of land was a drain belonging to the Corporation. The owners accepted that suggestion and on 18-5-1944, they purchased the strip of land concerned. On 28-6-1944, possession of