Common Judgment: (D. Murugesan, J.)

The appellants, who are engaged in the business of manufacturing and marketing cement, and whose lands were sought to be acquired by the Government of Tamilnadu to enable Tamilnadu Cements Limited (in short known as TANCEM) to conduct operations for mining limestones, lost their challenge to the land acquisition proceedings and hence, are before us in the present appeals.

2. The brief facts leading to the above appeals are as follows:-

(a) The Tamilnadu Industrial Development Corporation Ltd., a statutory corporation, wholly owned by the Government of Tamilnadu, obtained an industrial license to set up a cement factory in Ariyalur Taluk, of erstwhile Trichy District, in the year 1975. The State Geological branch conducted detailed prospecting operations in the area and submitted a report, based upon which, the Tamilnadu Industrial Development Corporation Ltd., requested the sanction of the Government for the acquisition of patta lands of an extent of Acres 1868.96 and poromboke lands of an extent of 444.07 acres, in the area, for the purpose of carrying out mining operations, setting up a factory, providing a Railway siding etc. By an o