1. THE West Bengal Land Development and Planning Act, 1948, is an Act to provide for the acquisition and development of land for public purposes. Section 4 of the Act provides for declaration of a notified area in the following language : -

"4 (1) The State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare any area specified in. the notification to be a notified area if it is satisfied that any land in such area is needed or is likely to be needed for any public purpose and the Collector shall cause public notice of the substance of such notification to be given at convenient places in the locality in such manner as he may think fit. (2) "

Section 2 (c) of the Act defines notified area as:-"notified area means an area declared under Sub-section (1) of Section 4 to be a notified area. " In exercise of the powers vested in it under section 4 of the Act, the respondent State Government published the following notification in the extraordinary issue of the Calcutta Gazette, dated November 9, 1962. "hooghly.-No. 14396l, Dev, 9th November, 1962,-Whereas it appears to the Governor that land is likely to be needed for a public purpose, viz., for the settlement of immi