Civil Appeal No 1154 of 1972
Appeal by special leave from the Judgment and order dated 18th December 1969 of the Allahabad High Court in Special Appeal No 324 of 1962
827 Yogeshwar Prasad section K Bagga Mrs section Bagga and Miss Rani Arora for the appellant
G N Dikshit and O P Rana for the respondent
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by ALAGIRISWAMI J
The appellant is a tenant of plot No 428 in mauza Dehra Khas pargana Central Doon district Dehradun
This land along with some other pieces of land was notified under section 41 of the Land Acquisition Act on February 8 1962 for acquisition for the purpose of setting up an industrial estate at Dehradun
By the same notification under section 174 of the Act it was directed that the provisions of section 5A shall not apply on the ground that the provisions of section 171 were applicable to the facts of the case
He filed a writ petition out of which this appeal arises for the issue of a writ of certiorari for quashing the notification dated 8th February 1962
He made various allegations which it is not necessary to go into for the purpose of this appeal
A learned single Judge of the Allahabad High Court dismissed the petition and an appeal filed by him was dismissed by a Division Bench of the same High Court
The only point argued before us was that there was a pucca construction on plot No 436 which was also notified for acquisition under the impugned notification and consequently the provisions of s174 would not be applicable to that land as it was not arable or waste land which could be acquired by dispensing with the enquiry under s5A and as such the whole notification is bad and should be quashed
Admittedly the appellant s land is a waste and arable land and thus falls under s17 1 
There was therefore no objection to the Government dispensing with the provisions of s5A by resorting to the power conferred by s174
The person who could have taken objection to the enquiry under section 5A being dispensed with was the owner of plot No 436
He has not objected to the acquisition
He has taken the compensation awarded to him and walked out
It is therefore not open to the appellant to question the validity of this notification
If possibly the owner of the land sought to be acquired but any person in the locality derations might arise
The appellant who is only the owner of plot No 428 in relation to which section 171 and 174 are applicable and therefore enquiry under s 5A could properly be dispensed with cannot object to the same notification because the notification also relates to another land to which s171 and 174 are not applicable when the owner of that land has not chosen to challenge the notification
on behalf of the appellant however reliance was placed on certain observations of this Court in Sarju Prasad vs State of UP1 to
the following effect It was contended by Mr section P Sinha appearing on behalf of the Municipal Board Basti that a part of the land notified for acquisition was waste or arable and in support of his contention counsel referred us to certain revenue record
But 1 A I R 828 if only a part of the land is waste or arable and the rest is not notification under section 174 dispensing with compliance with the requirements of section 5 A would be invalid
It would not be open to the Court to regard the notification as partially good and partially bad for if the State had no power to dispense with the inquiry in respect of any part of the land notified under section 41 an inquiry must be held section 5 A giving an opportunity to persons interested in the land notified to raise the objections to the proposed acquisition and in that inquiry the persons interested cannot be restricted to raising objections in respect of land other than waste or arable land  That case is the converse of the present case
The appellant therein was a person who was entitled to object to the notification
Under those circumstances the question whether the notification is to be quashed completely or only partially might well arise
But such a question cannot arise where a person like the appellant has no right to impugn the notification
It was however urged that under section 5 A1 it is not only the owner of the land sought to be acquired but any person in the locality may object and his objections will have to be heard
Section 5 Al reads as follows 5A1 Any person interested in any land which has been notified under section 4 sub section 1 as being needed or likely to be needed for a public purpose or for a Company may within thirty days after the issue of the notification object to the acquisition of the land or of any land in the locality
as the case may be This section should be understood in the background of the provisions of section 41 which reads as follows s 41 Whenever it appears to the appropriate Government that land in any locality is needed or is likely to be needed for any public purpose a notification to that effect shall be published in the official Gazette and the Collector shall cause public notice of the substance of such notification to be given at convenient places in the said locality
 It may be noticed that under this section what is necessary is that only the locality the land in which appears to the appropriate Government as needed or as likely to be needed for any public purpose need be specified in the notification under that section
But in actual practice always the survey numbers of the lands sought to be acquired are given in such notifications
The question of notifying the locality might probably arise when all the lands in a village are sought to be acquired otherwise the word locality  is a word of such indefinite import that it is difficult to conceive of any locality in any particular village being notified for acquisition
Therefore when a locality in the sense of a village or perhaps a group of villages is notified for acquisition any person interested in any 829 land in that locality would be entitled to be heard under section 5A
But where the land proposed to be acquired is specifically mentioned in the notification it is only the person interested in that land who is entitled to be heard under section 5A
That is why s5A provides that any person interested in any land which has been notified under s1 may object to the acquisition of the land or of any land in the locality as the case may be
The latter part would apply to a case where lands in any locality are notified under section 41
That is the significance of the use of the words as the case may be
To give and other interpretation to this section would mean that any person interested in any land which has been notified may object to the acquisition of his land or to the acquisition of any land ill the locality
This cannot be correct because he would not be a person interested in any land in the locality which is a pre requisite before a person can object to the acquisition of any land
In other words in the background of section 4 1 section 5A provides that where land in any locality is notified under section 41 any person who is interested in any land in the locality may object to the acquisition of his land or any land in the locality as the case may be
We are therefore of opinion that there are no merits in this appeal
It is accordingly dismissed with costs PHP Appeal dismissed


Summary:
The appellant is a tenant or Plot No 428
A notification was issued under Section 4 1 of the Land Acquisition Act for setting up an industrial estate in respect of Plot No 428 and Plot No 436
By a notification under Section 17 4 the provisions of section 5A were dispensed with in the ground that provisions of section 171 Urgency were applicable
The appellant filed a Writ Petition in Hugh Court challenging the said notification issued under section 17 4 The Single judge dismissed the Writ Petition
An appeal filed to the Division Bench was also dismissed
On an appeal by Special Leave it was contended by the appellant that there was a pucca construction on Plot No 436 which was also notified for acquisition under the impugned notification and consequently the provisions of Section 17 4 would not be applicable to that land as it was not arable or waste land and could not be acquired by dispensing with the enquiry under section 5A and as such the whole notification is bad and should be quashed
Dismissing the appeal  HELD 1
Admittedly the appellant s land is a waste and arable land and thus falls under section 171
The person who could have taken objection to the enquiry under section 5A being dispensed with was the owner of Plot No 436
He has not objected to the acquisition it is therefore not open to the appellant to question the validity of the notification
If the owner of Plot No 436 had objected to the notification different considerations might arise
Sarjoo Prasad vs State of UP AIR distinguished
1827E F 2
Section 5A should be understood in the back ground of section 41
Section 4  I  requires only the locality in which the land is situate to be mentioned in the notification
But in actual practice the survey numbers of the lands sought to be acquired are given in such notifications
The question of notifying the locality might probably arise when all the lands in village are sought to be acquired
Otherwise
the word locality is a word of such indefinite import that it is difficult to conceive of any locality in any particular village being notified for acquisition
When a locality in the sense of a village or a group of villages in notified for acquisition any person interested in any land in that locality would be entitled to be heard under section 5A
But where land proposed to be acquired is specifically mentioned in the notification it is only the person interested in that land who is entitled to be heard under section 5A
That is why section 5A provides that any person interested may object to the acquisition of land or of any land in the locality as the case may be
The latter part would apply to a case where lands in
any locality are notified under section 4  1  
That is the significance of the use of the words as the case may be
 Any person unconnected with land cannot object to the acquisition of the land in the locality since he would not be a person interested
828 F H 829A C