Local publication of acquisition notice must follow Gazette publication immediately or the notification becomes invalid

A notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 is valid only if its substance is published in the concerned locality simultaneously with, or immediately after, publication in the Official Gazette. The Court treated locality publication as mandatory because the objection period under Section 5A begins on Gazette publication, and delay would curtail affected landowners' right to object and defeat the notice requirement. As the substance of the notification was published in the locality only 29 days after the Gazette notice, the Section 4 notification was held invalid and the acquisition proceedings were quashed.

---

---

Issues: Whether a notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 is valid only if the substance of the notification is given public notice in the concerned locality simultaneously with, or immediately after, publication in the official Gazette.

Analysis: Section 4(1) requires two acts: publication of the notification in the official Gazette and public notice of its substance at convenient places in the locality. The statutory right to object under Section 5A(1) begins from the Gazette publication, so delaying local publicity would curtail the objection period and defeat the purpose of notice. The mandatory character of locality publication is reinforced by the need to give effective intimation to affected landowners and by the Supreme Court authorities relied upon, which treat the two requirements as needing to be satisfied together or without undue delay. On the facts, the substance of the notification was published in the locality only on the 29th day after Gazette publication.

Conclusion: The local publication had to be simultaneous with, or at least immediately after, Gazette publication. The delayed publication rendered the Section 4 notification invalid, and the acquisition notifications were quashed in favour of the petitioners.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statute requires both Gazette publication and local publicity of the substance of an acquisition notification, the local notice is mandatory and must accompany or closely follow the Gazette publication, failing which the notification and consequential acquisition proceedings are void.

---