State Act

The West Bengal Land Development And Planning Act, 1948

8. A declaration under section 6 shall be conclusive evidence that the land in respect of which the declaration is made is needed for a public purpose and, after making such declaration, the Provincial Government may acquire the land and thereupon the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter in this section referred to as the said Act), shall, so far as may be, apply: Provided that— (a) if in any case, the Provincial Government so directs, the Collector may, at any time after a declaration is made under section 6, take possession, in accordance with the rules, of any beel, baor, tank or other watery area, or any other waste or arable land in respect of which the declaration is made and thereupon such land shall vest absolutely in the Crown free from all encumbrances; Explanation.—For the purposes of this clause the decision of the Provincial Government as to whether any land is or is not waste or arable land shall be final; (b) in determining the amount of compensation to be awarded for land acquired in pursuance of this Act the market value referred to in clause first of sub-section (1) of section 23 of the said Act shall be deemed to be the market value of the land on the date of publication of the notification under sub-section (1) of section 4 for the notified area in which the land is included subject to the following condition, that is to say,— if such market value exceeds by any amount the market value of the land on the 31st day of December, 1946, on the assumption that the land had been at that date in the state in which it in fact was on the date of publication of the said notification, the amount of such excess shall not be taken into consideration.