Land acquisition approval requires competent authority and genuine Section 5A consideration before Section 6 declaration.

The Adviser to the Administrator was held not competent to approve acquisition proceedings or record satisfaction for a declaration under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, because the power had been specifically entrusted to the Administrator and could not be displaced by later general delegation. The objections under Section 5A were also not duly considered: the reports were mechanical, contained no real appraisal of objections, and the departmental approval showed no independent application of mind. As a result, the statutory satisfaction required for a Section 6 declaration was absent, and the conclusive-effect clause could not cure non-compliance with the mandatory safeguards. The acquisition notifications were quashed.

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Issues: (i) whether the Adviser to the Administrator was competent to approve acquisition proceedings and the declaration under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894; (ii) whether the objections under Section 5A were objectively considered and whether the declarations under Section 6 were vitiated for want of proper satisfaction.

Issue (i): Whether the Adviser to the Administrator was competent to approve acquisition proceedings and the declaration under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.

Analysis: The power to exercise the functions of the appropriate Government under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 had been specifically entrusted by the President to the Administrator of the Union Territory under Article 239(1) of the Constitution of India. The later delegation issued by the Administrator under Section 3(1) of the Chandigarh (Delegation of Powers) Act, 1987 could not override or include the specially conferred statutory function under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. In any event, the later Presidential notification superseding earlier arrangements left no basis for the Adviser to exercise that power in the absence of a fresh and specific delegation.

Conclusion: The Adviser to the Administrator was not competent to approve the acquisition proceedings or to record the requisite satisfaction under Section 6(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.

Issue (ii): Whether the objections under Section 5A were objectively considered and whether the declarations under Section 6 were vitiated for want of proper satisfaction.

Analysis: Section 5A confers a substantive right of objection and requires the Collector to hear the objector, make further inquiry where necessary, and submit a reasoned report with recommendations to the appropriate Government. Section 6(1) permits a declaration only after the Government considers that report and is satisfied that the land is needed for a public purpose. The reports submitted by the Land Acquisition Officer did not reflect any real consideration of the objections and merely reproduced general observations. The approval process at the departmental level also showed a mechanical endorsement rather than an independent application of mind. A declaration under Section 6(1) cannot rest on such a process, and conclusiveness under Section 6(3) does not cure non-compliance with the mandatory hearing and consideration requirements.

Conclusion: The objections were not duly considered, the statutory satisfaction was absent, and the declarations under Section 6 were invalid.

Final Conclusion: The acquisition proceedings could not be sustained because the competent authority lacked authority and the statutory safeguards under Sections 5A and 6 were not complied with, resulting in quashing of the impugned notifications.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the Land Acquisition Act requires prior consideration of objections and a reasoned report before the Government records satisfaction for a declaration of acquisition, a mechanical or non-independent approval is legally ineffective and cannot be saved by the conclusive-effect clause.

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