“The sheet anchor is the Constitution Bench Judgment in P. Vajravelu Mudaliar, (1965) 1 SCR 614 and Nagpur Improvement Trust, (1973) 1 SCC 500. In Nagpur Improvement Trust a Seven-Judge Bench of this Court examined the matter in some detail, and followed P. Vajravelu Mudaliar together with another Judgment, Balammal, (1969) 1 SCR 90. Both, P. Vajravelu Mudaliar and Nagpur Improvement Trust clinch the issue.
Nagpur Improvement Trust has clearly held that ordinarily a classification based on public purpose is not permissible under Article 14 for the purpose of determining compensation. Nagpur Improvement Trust has to be read as a whole. Merely emphasizing one example from the passages that have been extracted will not make the ratio of the said Judgment inapplicable.”
– Hon’ble Justice R.F. Nariman, Union of India v. Tarsem Singh, [Civil Appeal No. 7064 of 2019].