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Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) & Ors. vs Nisar Ahmed Ganai & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2022 INSC 1074Decided 12 Oct 2022
Civil Appeal Nos. 6778-6780 of 2022
M.R. Shah · Krishna Murari · C.T. Ravikumar

Background

Land in Jammu was acquired under the J&K Land Acquisition Act, 1990 to relocate BPCL's petroleum depots, with the Section 4 notification issued in 2016 and the Section 6 declaration in 2018. The landowners challenged the acquisition before the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh on several grounds, including an alternative prayer that if the acquisition stood, compensation should be paid under the newer 2013 central land acquisition law (which offers higher compensation) rather than the older 1990 state law. The High Court allowed the writ petitions only on this compensation point, directing that compensation be paid under the 2013 Act, without examining the landowners' other challenges to the acquisition itself. BPCL and the government appealed to the Supreme Court against this direction.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the 2013 Act's compensation provisions did not apply here because the acquisition proceedings, and even the taking of possession, had substantially advanced under the 1990 state law before the 2013 Act's cut-off protections could apply, and courts had earlier maintained status quo during the litigation. It therefore quashed the High Court's direction to pay compensation under the 2013 Act. However, since the High Court had never ruled on the landowners' other grounds challenging the acquisition itself, the Supreme Court remitted the writ petitions back to the High Court to decide those remaining grounds on their own merits, while clarifying that the compensation-law question was now finally settled and could not be reopened.

Lesson Learnt

When land acquired under an older state law is challenged on multiple grounds, a court ruling on one narrow issue (like which compensation law applies) does not automatically decide the validity of the acquisition itself: the other grounds must still be heard on their own merits, and litigants should ensure all their objections are separately argued and decided.

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

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