Nagpur Improvement Trust Act, 1936 and Land Requisition Act 1894 -Different terms of compensation for land acquired under the two Acts-Where Government could acquire land under one Act or the other at its choice there was discrimination violative of Art. 14 of Constitution-There can be no valid classification as to payment of compensation with reference to purpose for which land is acquired or of: Act under which it is acquired.

The petitioner was tenant of some fields in a village in Patwari Circle 10, Nagpur. He had applied to the Agricultural Lands Tribunal under a local Act for fixing the purchase price of the said fields. The land in question was however acquired under the Nagpur Improvement Trust Act, 1936. Dissatisfied with the compensation awarded the petitioner filed a petition under Arts, 226 and 227 of the Constitution. In this petition the validity of the Improvement Act was challenged on various grounds, one of the grounds being that the Improvement Act was in violation of Art. 14 of the Constitution inasmuch as it empowered the acquisition of lands at prices lower than those which would have been payable if they had been acquired under the Land Acquisition Act 1894. The High Court allowed the petition and set aside the award. Appeal in this Court against the High Court's judgment was filed with certificate.