Mehrotra, J. - (1.) This is a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution praying that a writ of certiorari be issued quashing the notifications under Sections. 4, 6 and 9, Land Acquisition Act and that a writ of mandamus be issued directing the opposite parties not to proceed with the acquisition proceedings relating to the property in question.
(2.) The facts briefly are that the applicant is a Mahant of a well-known Math in the city of Varanasi called Sri Jagat Guru Vishwaradhya Singhasan or Jangamwudi Math being in existence for several hundred years. The Math owns several properties including the disputed plot which is situated just in front of the main building of the Math across the road. The land is enclosed mostly by houses and on one side by a pucca wall. Within this enclosure on a portion of the land there are temples and samadhis of disciples, who, according to the tenets of the Shaiva sect, come and die in Varanasi and are buried there in the enclosure. The contention of the petitioner is that this land is not a waste or arable land and consequently the State Government has no power to take action under Section 17 (4), Land Acquisition Act and to dispense with the provisions of Section 5A of the said Act.
(3.) In the petition originally the State of Uttar Pradesh and the Land Acquisition Officer, Varanasi, were impleaded as opposite parties but the Municipal Board, Varanasi, through its Administrator, also sought to be added as a party and by an order of this Court the Board has been impleaded as opposite party in these proceedings.;