N. M. MIABHOY, N. K. VAKIL, J.

( 1 ) THIS writ petition arises out of land acquisition proceedings acquiring lands and structures thereon falling within the line of alignment for the Municipal Corporation of Ahmedabad in Jamalpur area of Ahmedabad City. The sixteen petitioners claim to be the tenants of structures consisting of small shops and rooms. They are petty traders and artisans. Their case as put forward in the petition is that for the first time they came to know about the fact that the premises were being acquired under the Land Acquisition Act when they received notices dated the 3rd of June 1961 from the Taluka Magistrate under sec. 47 of the Land Acquisition Act (hereinafter called (the Act) calling upon them to surrender possession on the 30th of June 1961. It is alleged inter alia that they then came to know that without publishing the necessary notifications under secs. 4 and 6 of the Act in the locality or affixing them on the premises the Land Acquisition Officer had passed and filed an award in respect of these premises on the 3rd of April 1961. No notices were served on them under sec. 9 or sec. 10 before making the said award though they were the occupiers and as such persons interested in the land and premises which were being acquired They therefore approached the Collector. Thereafter the Land Acquisition Officer sent them notices under secs. 9 and 10 of that Act on the 3rd of July 1961. The petitioners except petitioner No. 16 appeared before the Land Acquisition Officer and filed their objections and made their claims. A second award dated the 25th of September 1961 was then passed by the Land Acquisition Officer without properly hearing them or holding any proper enquiry. Thereafter on the 3rd of October 1961 respondent No. 2 served notices on the petitioners except petitioner No. 16 that their premises were acquired under the second award dated the 25th of September 1961 and they should surrender possession on the 5th of December 1961 On the 4th October 1961 petitioner No. 16 was served with a notice informing that the premises mentioned therein were acquired under the first award dated the 3rd of April 1951 and should give possession on the 5th of December 1961. Thereafter notices were served on the petitioners on the 19th of January 1962 by the Taluka Magistrate under sec. 47 of the Act to enforce the award by calling upon the petitioners to vacate the premises on or before the 20th of March 1962 failing which they would be forcibly evicted and prosecuted. On the 17th of March 1962 this petition was filed. The State Government is joined as respondent No. 1 and the Special Land Acquisition Officer of the Corporation as respondent No. 2.

( 2 ) MR. S. G. Rebello the learned Advocate for the petitioners has raised the following three contentions only before us and has not pressed the others raised in the petition; (1) the first award dated the 3rd of April 1961 is invalid because notice under sec. 9 (3) of the Act was not served on the petitioners; (2) the Land Acquisition Officer had no jurisdiction to pass his supplemental award or the second award. Therefore the supplemental award dated the 25th of September 1961 is invalid; and (3) the public purpose for which the respondent No. 1 the State purported to acquire the land did not continue to be in existence and therefore the award is bad. We shall deal with these submissions seriatim.

( 3 ) IT was submitted that the petitioners are tenants or occupants of the premises acquired and there is no serious dispute about it. It is settled law that notice under sub-sec. (3) of sec. 9 is mandatory to be given to the occupants and failure to give notice would render the award not binding on them. No notice was served admittedly on the present petitioners by the Special Land Acquisition Officer. The first award dated 3 of April 1961 therefore is invalid in law. Now in order to support this submission Mr. Rebello relied upon the decision in Laxmanrao Kristrao Ja

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