DESAI, C. J. :- This is a Rule taken out at the instance of the Petitioner who is the owner of certain lands against the Respondents, the State of Gujarat and Messrs Karamchand Premchand (Private) Ltd., to show cause why the two Notifications dated 13-6-1958 and 3-6-1960 issued by the State under Ss. 4 and 6 respectively of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, should not be declared to be ultra vires, illegal and without jurisdiction or authority and the Respondents directed to forbear from exercising any rights over those lands. The petition raises some questions of considerable importance and consequence. As identical questions were raised in a number of other petitions relating to adjoining lands in respect of which similar notifications have been issued and the respondents in all the petitions are the same we directed that they should all be heard together.

2. The facts require to be stated with some fullness. Of some facts we shall however give only a resume and avoid certain details. The Petitioner in Special Civil Application No. 346 of 1960 is the owner of survey numbers 126/2 and 127 admeasuring 9 acres and 6 gunthas and 1 acre and 36 gunthas situate within the municipal limits of the Baroda Borough Municipality. He has built 31 bouses on these lands which are in the area known as Nandanvan Colony. The property touches the National Highway. Respondent No. 2, a Private Limited Company, is the sole proprietor of a factory known as Sarabhai Chemicals which manufactures drugs, medicines, pharmaceuticals and antibiotics. On 7-12-1957, Respondent No. 2 wrote to the Collector of Baroda inter alia as under :

"We have now taken a big development programme on hand, which includes both the expansion of the existing installed capacities of the products currently manufactured by us and starting the manufacture of some new important products. Our Development Programme includes the starting of manufacture of (1) Procaine Hydrochloride (2) Saccharin (3) Vitamin B12 Yeast (4) Nicotinic Acid and Nicotinamide and (5) Nikethamide etc. We have already received the approval of the Government of India for the manufacture of the aforesaid products as required under the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act 1951. Our expansion Programme also includes manufacturing Citric Acid, for which we are awaiting permission from Government of India.

For a proper and efficient execution of our above referred Development Programme, we require more land for constructing new factory buildings, new warehouse building for storing raw materials and finished Products and also for constructing Administrative Offices, Canteen etc. etc. We, therefore, request you to acquire for us the lands which are situated in our vicinity and which are at present included in Survey Nos. 124, 125, 126, 127,134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140 and 87 of, Subhanpura Village".

On 25th December 1957 Respondent No. 2 wrote to the same Authority as under :

"In our above application we have stated that we want some more lands for constructing Factory Building for the expansion of our concern. We now inform you that we require lands for constructing residential quarters and for providing recreation facilities to our employees. Please, therefore, consider the above two objects (namely for constructing residential quarters and for providing recreation facilities) as also the objects of acquiring lands for us, among other objects stated earlier".

3. On the representation of respondent No. 2 the then State of Bombay issued a Notification under S. 4 of the Act on 13-6-1958 the relevant and material part of which is as follows :

"Whereas it appears to the Government of Bombay that the lands specified in the schedule hereto are likely to be needed for the purpose of the company viz., for expansion of the Sarabhai Chemical works of Karamchand Premchand Ltd. at Baroda.

It is hereby notified, under the provisions of S. 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (1 of 1894), that the said lands are likel