Venkatarama Ayyar, J.-

We have already held that the acquisitions are for a public purpose and that therefore they are not open to objection under Article 31 (2) of the Constitution. It is now argued before us that the acquisitions are in contravention of the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, I of 1894 and that therefore they are invalid. Two objections have been put forward on this score. One is that the petitioner had no opportunity to prefer objections under section 5-A of the Act. To understand the contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner, it is necessary to set out in brief the scheme of the Act. Under section 4, a preliminary notification is made for the acquisition of the property for any public purpose. Under section 5-A objections are heard and then the final order is passed under section 6. Thereafter notice to all the persons is given under section 9 and after enquiry is held, an award is passed under section 16. On the making of an award under section 16, the property vests absolutely in the Government. There are two exceptions to this procedure provided in section 17. We are concerned only with one of them, section 17(1). That provides that in cases of

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