Public-utility land acquisition and writ review can extend to co-operative housing schemes, unless statutory conditions fail.
A residential housing scheme for a co-operative society was treated as capable of falling within the expression "work" under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, because the term was given a broad ordinary meaning and a housing shortage could support public utility. The text also states that judicial review could, in principle, be sought before a Section 6 notification if the statutory preconditions for acquisition were not met, and that the finality attached to the Government's Section 5-A decision did not exclude constitutional writ jurisdiction absent express exclusion. On that basis, the proposed acquisition was regarded as within the statute and no writ relief was warranted.
Issues: (i) Whether construction of residential houses for a co-operative housing society could be treated as a "work" and as an acquisition likely to prove useful to the public under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894; (ii) whether a writ petition could be entertained to restrain the State Government from giving consent under Section 40 and from issuing a notification under Section 6 before such notification was published; (iii) whether the finality attached to the Government's decision under Section 5-A excluded constitutional writ jurisdiction.
Issue (i): Whether construction of residential houses for a co-operative housing society could be treated as a "work" and as an acquisition likely to prove useful to the public under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.
Analysis: The expression "work" was held to bear a broad and ordinary meaning and was not confined to large industrial or scientific constructions. A residential building could fall within that expression. On the question of public utility, the shortage of residential accommodation in towns, and the possibility that additional houses would increase accommodation and benefit the resident public, were treated as sufficient to support a conclusion that the acquisition was likely to prove useful to the public.
Conclusion: The acquisition for construction of residential houses for the co-operative housing society was capable of being treated as a public-utility acquisition and was not outside Section 40.
Issue (ii): Whether a writ petition could be entertained to restrain the State Government from giving consent under Section 40 and from issuing a notification under Section 6 before such notification was published.
Analysis: After insertion of Section 5-A, objections by an interested person are to be heard and decided in a quasi-judicial manner. Since Section 40 makes prior consent a condition precedent to the further operation of the acquisition machinery, judicial review could be invoked at the stage before a Section 6 notification is issued if the proposed acquisition is said to be incapable of serving a public purpose.
Conclusion: The petition was maintainable at the pre-notification stage in principle, and a writ could issue if the statutory preconditions were not met.
Issue (iii): Whether the finality attached to the Government's decision under Section 5-A excluded constitutional writ jurisdiction.
Analysis: The word "final" in Section 5-A was held not to be sufficient to exclude certiorari. Finality in the statute did not amount to an express exclusion of the High Court's constitutional powers, and Article 226 remained available where the statutory decision was open to challenge on jurisdictional or legal grounds.
Conclusion: The finality clause did not bar the Court's writ jurisdiction.
Final Conclusion: The petition failed because the proposed acquisition for a co-operative housing scheme was held to fall within the statutory concept of a work useful to the public, and no ground was made out for the grant of certiorari or prohibition.
Ratio Decidendi: A residential housing scheme for a co-operative society may qualify as a work likely to prove useful to the public under the Land Acquisition Act, and a statutory finality clause does not exclude constitutional writ review unless exclusion is express.
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