Report No. 10
Part II
Acquisition
Chapter I
Preliminary Investigation and Declaration
Preliminary Investigation
4. Publication of preliminary notification and powers of officers thereupon.-
(1) Whenever it appears to the appropriate Government or the Collector that any land is needed or is likely to be needed for any public purpose, a notification stating the purpose for which the land is needed or likely to be needed and describing the land by its survey number, if any, and also by its boundaries and its approximate area, shall be published in the Official Gazette, and the Collector shall cause-
(a) public notice of the substance of such notification to be given at convenient places in the locality in which the land is situated, and
(b) a copy of such notification to be served on the owner, and, where the owner is not the occupier, also on the occupier, of the land.
Explanation.-The expression "convenient places" includes, in the case of land situate in a village, the office of the Village Panchayat within whose jurisdiction the land lies.
[Section 4(1), L.A.A.]
(2) The notification under sub-section (1) shall also specify the date, (such date not being less than twenty-one days from the publication of the notification) on or before which, and the manner in which, objections to the proposed acquisition can be made, under section 6.
(3) On the publication of such notification it shall be lawful for any officer, either generally or specially authorised by such Government or by the Collector in this behalf, and for his servants or workmen,-
(i) to enter upon and survey and take levels of the land;
(ii) to dig or bore into the sub-soil;
(iii) to set out the boundaries of the land proposed to be taken and the intended line of the work (if any) proposed to be made thereon;
(iv) to mark such levels, boundaries, and line by placing marks and cutting trenches;
(v) where otherwise the survey cannot be completed and levels taken and the boundaries and line marked, to cut down and clear away any part of any standing crop, fence or jungle; and
(vi) to do all other acts necessary to ascertain whether the land is suitable for such purpose:
Provided that no person shall enter into any building or upon any enclosed court or garden attached to a dwelling house (unless with the consent of the occupier thereof) without previously giving such occupier at least 'seven days' notice in writing of his intention to do so.
[Section 4(2) L.A.A.]
(4) Where the acquisition is for a person or authority, an officer of such person or authority may be authorised by the appropriate Government or the Collector to exercise the powers conferred by sub-section (3).
[Section 38(1), L.A.A.]
(5) The officer authorised under sub-section (3) or sub-section (4) shall complete his investigation and submit his report to the Collector within a period of three months (or within such longer period, not exceeding six months in all, as the appropriate Government may allow) from the date of the publication of the notification under sub-section (1), and the Collector shall forward the report with his remarks to the appropriate Government along with his report under sub-section (2) of section 6.
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