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TMI Blog1977 (8) TMI 5X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d Acquisition Act. It was issued on July 10, 1972. Thereafter a notification under s. 6 of the Act was issued on September 2, 1974, and it was proposed to acquire 12.02 hectares of land in Anakapalli town for the needs of Anakapalli Market Committee. There was an earlier litigation also between the parties and it has been contended on behalf of the petitioner herein that the Market Committee is a company and the provisions in Pt. VII of the Land Acquisition Act should have been made applicable. It is clear that under s. 6(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, the acquisition should be for a public purpose. Section 6(1) declares that declaration can be made by the Government, if the other conditions mentioned in the section are fulfilled, to the e ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hority' is defined as meaning 'a municipal committee, district board, body of port commissioners or other authority legally entitled to, or entrusted by the Government with the control or management of municipal or local fund'. By virtue of section 10(2) of the Gujarat Agricultural Produce Markets Act, 1963, the market committee is a local authority within the meaning of the Bombay General Clauses Act. local authority being by virtue of section 3(26) of the Bombay General Clauses Act, 1904, a body which is entrusted by Government with control or management, inter alia, of a local fund, there is no scope for the argument that the market committee constituted under the Gujarat Agricultural Markets Act, 1963, is not a local authority within th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ercial Crops Markets Act, 1933 ". The Andhra Pradesh (Agricultural Produce and Livestock) Markets Act, 1966, has substituted the Madras Commercial Crops Markets Act, 1933. In Chap. XIII of the Financial Code provision is made for local funds and art. 304 provides what the different classes of local funds are. Clause (v) reads: "Market committee funds, i.e., the moneys of market committees governed by the Madras Commercial Crops Markets Act, 1933 (Madras Act XX of 1933)." Though the word " local fund" has not been statutorily defined, it is permissible to us to refer to the Financial Code of the Andhra Pradesh Govt. which is a set of rules issued by the Government for the guidance of the officers, for finding out what the concept of lo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Mr. Babulu Reddy contended that the principle of noscitur a sociis should be applied while construing the definition of the word " local authority " occurring in cl. (31) of s. 3. He contended that municipal committees, district boards and body of port commissioners are all " local self-government bodies " as that phrase is generally understood and, therefore, the words " other authority " occurring in cl. (31) should be read to mean other bodies of local self-government. We are unable to accept this contention. The bodies of port commissioners who are specifically mentioned in cl. (31) can by no stretch of imagination be called local self-government bodies. The port commissioners are appointed specifically by the Government to administer ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... scretion, which is, even according to the G.O., vested in the land acquisition authorities. The question of avoidability of acquisition, because of the land being a good agricultural land, is a matter left to the discretion of the acquisition officers. There is no question of violation of any fundamental right arising in this case. In these circumstances, the second argument of Mr. Babulu Reddy must also be rejected. In these circumstances, we agree with our learned brother, Raghuvir J., that the notification issued under s. 6 was a valid notification since the acquisition was for a local authority. This writ appeal, therefore, fails and is dismissed with costs. However, possession not to be taken till the crop which is standing on the l ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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