Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894: Preliminary Notification and Powers of Officers

Section 4(1): Publication of preliminary notification

Under Section 4(1), whenever it appeared to the appropriate Government that land in a locality was needed, or was likely to be needed, for a public purpose or for a company, a preliminary notification to that effect was required.

Modes of publication

The Central text required publication through multiple channels. The notification was to appear in the Official Gazette and in two daily newspapers circulating in the locality, with at least one newspaper being in the regional language. In addition, the Collector was required to cause public notice of the substance of the notification to be given at convenient places in the locality.

This publication framework was important because the Section 4 notification publicly identified the Government's preliminary intention concerning land in the locality and triggered the statutory process that followed under the 1894 Act.

Section 4(2): Powers after preliminary notification

Once the preliminary notification had been issued, an officer generally or specially authorised by the appropriate Government, together with the officer's servants and workmen, could exercise the limited investigatory powers specified in Section 4(2).

Those powers included authority:

• to enter upon, survey and take levels of land in the locality;
• to dig or bore into the subsoil;
• to carry out other acts necessary to determine whether the land was suitable for the stated purpose;
• to set out the boundaries of the land proposed to be acquired and the intended line of any proposed work;
• to mark levels, boundaries and lines by placing marks and cutting trenches; and
• where the survey could not otherwise be completed, to cut down and clear away part of any standing crop, fence or jungle as necessary for the statutory survey work.

These were preliminary investigation powers. Their purpose was to enable the authorised authority to inspect, survey and assess the land before the later stages of acquisition under the Act.

Protection for dwelling-houses: seven days' written notice

The proviso to Section 4(2) restricted entry into residentially connected premises. Without the occupier's consent, a person could not enter a building or an enclosed court or garden attached to a dwelling-house unless the occupier had first been given at least seven days' notice in writing of the intention to enter.

This proviso qualified the otherwise broad survey and inspection powers under Section 4(2) and provided a specific procedural protection for the occupier of such premises.

How Section 4 fitted into the acquisition procedure

Section 4 was the preliminary-notification and investigation stage. It was followed by other statutory steps under the 1894 Act. In particular, Sections 5 and 5A dealt with damage and objections, while Sections 6 and 7 addressed the declaration that land was required and the Collector's subsequent order for acquisition.

The meaning of expressions such as "appropriate Government", "public purpose", "Company" and "Collector" was supplied by Section 3 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.

Current legal status of the 1894 Act

The Land Acquisition Act, 1894 is no longer the general Central statute governing land acquisition. Section 114(1) of the 2013 Act repealed the 1894 Act. Section 114(2), however, provides that, except where the 2013 Act otherwise provides, the repeal does not prejudice or affect the general application of Section 6 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 concerning the effect of repeals.

Accordingly, where an acquisition began under the 1894 Act, the applicable saving and transitional provisions and the facts and procedural stage of that particular acquisition must be considered.