This is an application under Article 226 of the Constitution for the issue of a writ of certiorari to quash a notification of the Government of Madras, dated 22nd January, 1953, under section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act. The land proposed to be acquired is a vacant site of the extent of about 1 acre and 39 cents situated in the village of Pithapuram. Just to the north of this plot is a market where weekly shandis are held. The market is bounded on the east by a public road and on the north and west by a channel called “The Cherugula kalvai”. If the market is to expand, it can be only on the south. The Maharajah of Pithapuram to whom the site belonged offered it for sale in the year 1945. On 15th August, 1945, the Panchayat Board of Pithapuram passed Resolution No.74 to acquire it from the Maharajah by private sale for the purpose of the market. As the negotiations did not make much of a progress, a further resolution No.53 was passed on 17th June, 1946, requiring the Maharajah to grant the site at a reasonable cost to the Panchayat and by a further resolution No.230, dated 31st January, 1947, the Panchayat Board offered a price of Rs.10,000 for the site. It was at this