Hon’ble Ashok Bhushan, J.—Heard Sri Keshri Nath Tripathi, Senior Advocate, assisted by Sri C.P. Gupta, Advocate for the petitioners in Writ Petition No. 23624 of 2010, Sri Anil Kumar Tiwari, Advocate for the petitioner in Writ Petition No. 41012 of 2010 and Sri B.D. Mandhyan, Senior Advocate, assisted by Sri Satish Mandhyan, Advocate for the respondents in both the writ petitions. Learned Standing Counsel has appeared for State-respondents.

2. These two writ petitions challenging same notifications have been heard together and are being disposed of by this common judgment. Pleadings in Writ Petition No. 23624 of 2010 have been exchanged and it is sufficient to refer to pleadings of the said writ petition for deciding both the writ petitions.

3. Learned Standing Counsel has produced the original records of the State Government pertaining to land acquisition in question, which has been perused by us.

4. Brief facts of the case, as emerge from pleadings of the parties, are; The petitioners claim to be bhumidhar of Plots No. 391A and 391B measuring about 0.421 and 1.101 hectare respectively situated in village Islamganj, Pargana and Tehsil Jalalabad, district Saharanpur. Krishi Utpadan Mandi Samiti, Jalalabad, Saharanpur is a market area notified under Krishi Utpadan Mandi Samiti Adhiniyam, 1964. Allahganj is sub-market area of Krishi Utpadan Mandi Samiti, Jalalabad. Steps for construction of sub market yard were initiated by respondent No. 3. The land selection committee of Krishi Utpadan Mandi Samiti, Jalalabad on 26th August, 1994 selected an area of 18.64 acres for sub-market area, Allahganj. The Board of Director, Mandi Parishad, Lucknow on 10th July, 1997 approved the proposal for acquisition of 10 acres of land. A letter dated 27th June, 2003 was written by the Regional Deputy Director (Administration), Mandi Parishad, Bareilly directing for making available proposal for land acquisition to Land Acquisition Directorate, Board of Revenue, Lucknow through the Collector for acquisition of 10 acres of land under Section 4/17 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter referred to as the Act). On 8th August, 2008 resolution was passed by the Krishi Utpadan Mandi Samiti, Jalalabad directing for acquisition. A meeting of the Zila Bhoomi Upyog Samiti headed by Collector was held which approved the proposal submitted by respondent No. 3 for acquisition of 3.995 hectare of land. The Collector vide letter dated 25th October, 2008 forwarded the proposal of acquisition, as submitted by respondent No. 3, to the Commissioner and Director, Land Acquisition Directorate, Board of Revenue, Lucknow. The Commissioner and Director vide letter dated 1st December, 2008 forwarded the proposal to the Secretary, Department of Agricultural Marketing and Agricultural Foreign Trade for issuing notification under Section 4(1)/17 of the Act. A note dated 2nd January, 2009 was submitted, which was approved by the Special Secretary on 5th January, 2009. The note was also recommended for obtaining proposal from Director, Mandi Parishad. The Director, Mandi Parishad wrote a letter on 27th February, 2009. The note was submitted on 3rd March, 2009 for approval of the proposal for acquisition of 3.995 hectare of land under Section 4(1)/17 of the Act, which was forwarded by the Special Secretary on 5th March, 2009 and approved by the Minister concerned on 6th March, 2009. The provisions of sub-section (1) of Section 17 and sub-section (4) of Section 17 of the Act were also invoked dispensing the inquiry under Section 5A of the Act. The notification under Section 4(1) of the Act was published in the Gazette on 20th May, 2009 and the substance of the notification was published in the Hindi Daily newspapers “Amar Ujala” and “Dainik Jagaran” on 14th October, 2009 and 15th October, 2009 respectively. A declaration under Section 6(1) of the Act dated 27th January, 2010 was issued, which was published in the Gazette on 27th January, 2010 itself and thereafter pu