Sections 6 and 7 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894: Declaration and Collector's Order for Acquisition

Section 6 governed the formal declaration that particular land was needed for a public purpose or for a Company after the preliminary acquisition process. Section 7 then required the appropriate Government, or an authorised officer, to direct the Collector to take order for acquisition of land covered by the declaration.

Historical law note: This article explains the Central statutory position immediately before the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 came into force on 1 January 2014. Section 114 of that Act repealed the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 subject to the applicable saving framework. State amendments and adaptations may also require separate examination.

Sections 6 and 7 at a glance

The appropriate Government had to be satisfied that particular land was needed for a public purpose or for a Company.
The Section 5A report, if any, had to be considered before the declaration.
Different declarations could be made for different parcels covered by the same Section 4(1) notification.
Section 6 prescribed statutory time limits for making the declaration.
The declaration required Gazette, newspaper and local publication and specified particulars of the land and purpose.
The declaration was made conclusive evidence of the statutory need described in Section 6(3).
After declaration, Section 7 required a direction to the Collector to take order for acquisition.

Section 6(1): Government satisfaction and declaration

Subject to Part VII of the 1894 Act, the appropriate Government could make a Section 6 declaration when, after considering the report made under Section 5A(2), if any, it was satisfied that particular land was needed for a public purpose or for a Company.

The declaration was required to be made under the signature of a Secretary to the Government or an officer duly authorised to certify its orders. Different declarations could be made from time to time for different parcels covered by the same Section 4(1) notification, irrespective of whether one or different Section 5A reports had been made where required.

Time limit for a Section 6 declaration

The first proviso to Section 6(1) contained different limitation periods depending on when the underlying Section 4(1) notification was published:

Notifications after commencement of the 1967 Ordinance but before the 1984 Amendment Act: the declaration could not be made after expiry of three years from publication of the Section 4(1) notification.
Notifications after commencement of the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Act, 1984: the declaration could not be made after expiry of one year from publication of the Section 4(1) notification.

Court-stay exclusion: Explanation 1 required exclusion, when computing these periods, of the time during which action or proceedings in pursuance of the Section 4(1) notification were stayed by an order of a Court.

Funding condition for the declaration

The second proviso to Section 6(1) stated that a declaration could not be made unless compensation for the property was to be paid by a Company, or wholly or partly from public revenues, or from a fund controlled or managed by a local authority.

Explanation 2 treated compensation paid from the funds of a corporation owned or controlled by the State as compensation paid out of public revenues.

Section 6(2): Publication and required particulars

Every Section 6 declaration had to be published in the Official Gazette and in two daily newspapers circulating in the locality where the land was situated, with at least one newspaper in the regional language. The Collector also had to cause public notice of the substance of the declaration to be given at convenient places in the locality.

Date of publication: The last of the relevant publication dates and the giving of the local public notice constituted the date of publication of the declaration for purposes of the Act.

The declaration was required to state the district or other territorial division where the land was situated, the purpose for which it was needed, its approximate area and, where a plan had been prepared, the place where that plan could be inspected.

Section 6(3): Effect of the declaration

Section 6(3) provided that the declaration was conclusive evidence that the land was needed for a public purpose or for a Company, as the case might be. After making the declaration, the appropriate Government could proceed to acquire the land in the manner provided by the Act.

Section 7: Collector to take order for acquisition

Once land had been declared under Section 6 to be needed for a public purpose or for a Company, the appropriate Government, or an officer authorised by it for that purpose, was required to direct the Collector to take order for acquisition of the land.

Section 7 therefore linked the Government's formal declaration under Section 6 with the Collector's subsequent acquisition functions. The next procedural provisions included Sections 8 and 9, concerning marking, measurement, planning and notice to persons interested.

Meaning of key expressions

The expressions "appropriate Government", "public purpose", "Company", "Collector" and "person interested" were defined or addressed in Section 3 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. Those definitions form part of the statutory context for understanding Sections 6 and 7.

Current legal status

The Land Acquisition Act, 1894 ceased to be the general Central land acquisition statute when the 2013 Act came into force on 1 January 2014. Section 114 of the 2013 Act repealed the 1894 Act, subject to its saving provisions and the general law concerning the effect of repeal. For an acquisition initiated under the former Act, the relevant dates, procedural stage, transitional provisions and any applicable State amendments should be examined.

Editorial note: This article describes the Central statutory text immediately before the 2013 Act came into force. It does not substitute for checking State amendments or the saving and transitional rules applicable to a particular acquisition.