The Land Acquisition Act, 1894  - Section 4 (1) , Section 5-A , Section 17 (1) ,  (4)

Extraordinary power - Acquire private property without complying with the mandate of Section 5-A - The authority concerned must be fully satisfied that time of few weeks or months likely to be taken in conducting inquiry under Section 5-A will, in all probability, frustrate the public purpose for which land is proposed to be acquired.

The Land Acquisition Act, 1894  - Section 4 (1) , Section 5-A , Section 17 (1) ,  (4)

If land is acquired for the benefit of private persons, the Court should view the invoking of Sections 17(1) and/or 17(4) with suspicion and carefully scrutinize the relevant record before adjudicating upon the legality of such acquisition.

The Land Acquisition Act, 1894  - Section 4 (1) , Section 5-A , Section 17 (1) ,  (4)

The acquisition of land for residential, commercial, industrial or institutional purposes can be treated as an acquisition for public purposes within the meaning of Section 4 but that, by itself, does not justify the exercise of power by the Government under Section 17(1) and/or 17(4). The Court can take judicial notice of the fact that planning, execution and implementation of the schemes relating to development of residential, commercial, industrial or institutional areas usually take few years. Therefore, the private property cannot be acquired for such purpose by invoking the urgency provision contained in Section 17(1). In any case, exclusion of the rule of audi alteram partem embodied in Sections 5-A (1) and (2) is not at all warranted in such matters.

The Land Acquisition Act, 1894  - Section 4 (1) , Section 5-A , Section 17 (1) ,  (4)

The acquisition of the appellant's land is liable to be quashed because the respondents have not produced any material to show that the State Government had formed a bonafide opinion on the issue of invoking of the provisions contained in Section 17(1) and 17(4) of the Act.

The Land Acquisition Act, 1894  - Section 4 (1) , Section 5-A , Section 17 (1) ,  (4)

The exercise of power by the Government under Section 17(1) does not necessarily result in exclusion of Section 5-A of the Act in terms of which any person interested in land can file objection and is entitled to be heard in support of his objection. The use of word "may" in subsection (4) of Section 17 makes it clear that it merely enables the Government to direct that the provisions of Section 5-A would not apply to the cases covered under sub-section (1) or (2) of Section 17. In other words, invoking of Section 17(4) is not a necessary concomitant of the exercise of power under Section 17(1).

The Land Acquisition Act, 1894  - Section 4 (1) , Section 5-A , Section 17 (1) ,  (4)

The satisfaction of the Government on the issue of urgency is subjective but is a condition precedent to the exercise of power under Section 17(1) and the same can be challenged on the ground that the purpose for which the private property is sought to be acquired is not a public purpose at all or that the exercise of power is vitiated due to mala fides or that the authorities concerned did not apply their mind to the relevant factors and the records.

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