Lands in Survey Numbers 384/1, 384/2 and 384/3, 390/2, 391/1 and 391/2, 397 and 425/1 and 425/2 were acquired by the Government Under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act to enable the Harijans in Nallathupalayam to have a short-cut from their colony to Tirupur, a place where they were working. The Notification under section 4 (1) of the Act was published in the Fort St George Gazette, dated 27th October, 1965, and the Declaration under section 6 (1) of the Act was published in the Fort St. George Gazette, dated 1st March, 1967. It is to quash these land acquisition proceedings, the petitioner who happens to be one of the joint pattadars of the acquired lands has filed the present writ petition.

Mr. N. R. Chandran, the learned Counsel for the petitioner contended in the first place that there was really no public purpose involved in the acquisition because the two places Nallathupalayam and Tirupur were connected by two other routes and therefore there was really no necessity to acquire these lands for the purpose of connecting the two places and providing a short-cut. Whether such a pathway is necessary or not is a matter entirely for the Government to consider and dec