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Baljeet Singh (Dead) Through LRs v. State of UP

Special Leave Petition (Civil) · 2019 INSC 877Decided 8 Aug 2019
Special Leave Petition (Civil) Nos. 30404-30442 of 2017
Justice Arun Mishra · Justice S. Abdul Nazeer · Justice M.R. Shah

Background

Landowners whose land in villages Gulsitapur and Tilpta (Uttar Pradesh) had been compulsorily acquired for industrial development sought enhanced compensation, arguing their land should be valued on par with nearby village Kasna's land, for which the Supreme Court had earlier confirmed a higher rate. However, the petitioners challenged the Allahabad High Court's 1996 judgment on compensation only after an extraordinary delay, roughly 21 years (7,534 to 7,886 days), plus a further 142-224 days' delay in refiling, and applied to the Supreme Court to condone that delay.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court refused to condone the roughly 21-year delay and dismissed the special leave petitions solely on the ground of limitation, without going into the merits of the compensation claim. It reasoned that the land had already been developed and allotted to third parties decades ago based on the original (lower) acquisition cost, and that directing the State to now pay enhanced compensation after so many years would create an unreasonable financial burden, since recovering the cost difference from allottees after decades would be impracticable. The Court held that none of the precedents cited by the petitioners justified condoning such an extraordinary and unexplained delay.

Lesson Learnt

Courts in India generally will not entertain claims, however meritorious they might otherwise be, if a person sits on their rights for an unreasonably long time without adequate explanation; timeliness in approaching the court matters as much as the strength of the underlying claim.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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