MOOTHAM, J.:-

These are six petitions under Art.226 of the Constitution in which common questions of law arise and which can conveniently be dealt with in a single judgment. The petitioners challenge the validity of certain sections of the U.P. Land Acquisition (Rehabilitation of Refugees) Act, 1948 (U.P. Act 26 of 1948).

2. That Act came into force on 5-6-1948. The purpose of the Act, as stated in the preamble is to enable land to be acquired for the rehabilitation of refugees from Pakistan and to prescribe an expeditious procedure for the determination of the compensation to be paid on account of such acquisition. The Act in fact makes provision both for the requisition and acquisition of land, but it is only with the latter that we are concerned in these petitions. Section 5 of the Act provides that a "builder" (as defined in the Act) may ask the State Government to acquire specified land for the purpose of erecting buildings, shops and workshops for the rehabilitation of refugees and for the provision of amenities connected therewith. Section 6 provides that if the State Government is then satisfied, after such enquiries as it may consider necessary, that the land is needed and is suitable for any of these purposes it shall require the builder to enter into an agreement with it with regard to a number of matters, including the payment to the State Government of the cost of the acquisition and the transfer on such payment of the land to the builder.

Section 7 makes provision for the actual acquisition of the land. Sub-section (1) of this section provides that after the agreement mentioned in S.6 has been made and the builder has deposited such amount as the State Government shall require, the State Government may acquire the land by publishing in the official gazette a notice to the effect that it has decided to do so, and sub-s. (2) enacts that upon publication of such notice the land so acquired shall vest absolutely in the State Government. Section 11 is an important section for it makes provision for the payment of compensation. The relevant part thereof is sub-s. (1) which reads as follows:

11. (1) Whenever any land is acquired under S.7 or 9 there shall be paid compensation the amount of which shall be determined by the Compensation Officer, in accordance with the principles set out in clauses first, second and third of sub-s. (1) and sub-s. (2) of S.23 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894:

Provided that the market value referred to in clause first of the said sub-section shall be deemed to be the market value of such land on the date of publication of the notice under S.7 or 9, as the case may be, or on the first day of September, 1939, whichever is less:

Provided further that where such land has been held by the owner thereof under a purchase made before the first day of April, 1948, but after the first day of September, 1939, by a registered document, or a decree for pre-emption between the aforesaid dates, the compensation shall be the price actually paid by the purchaser or the amount on payment of which he may have acquired the land in the decree for pre-emption, as the case may be."

3. The petitioners are all owners of land in the district of Agra. Early in 1950 the Agra Improvement Trust, a statutory body constituted under the U.P. Town Improvement Act, 1919 made an application to the State Government under S.5 of the Act in respect of an area of land which included the several pieces of land owned by the petitioners. On 28-4-1950, the State Government declared the Trust to be a "builder" under S.2 (viii) of the Act. Thereafter on various dates in 1950 and early in 1951 it entered into agreements with the Trust with regard to the matters specified in S.6 of the Act in respect of several portions of the area proposed to be acquired, and on 11-7-1951, the State Government acquired the land by issuing a Notification under S.7 of the Act. Notices were thereafter issued to the petitioners requiring them to appear be