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Delhi Development Authority v. Amarjit Singh and Others

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 8604 of 2016)Decided 31 Aug 2016
Civil Appeal No. 8604 of 2016
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice C. Nagappan

Background

The Delhi Development Authority challenged a High Court order declaring that acquisition proceedings over the respondent's land had lapsed for want of timely payment of compensation or taking of possession, under the transitional provisions of the 2013 land acquisition law. This was one of a batch of near-identical DDA appeals decided on the same day.

Decision Breakdown

The Court held the point was already settled against DDA by its companion ruling in Civil Appeal No. 8477 of 2016 (from SLP(C) No. 8467 of 2015), which treated non-payment of compensation as triggering a deemed lapse under Section 24(2) of the 2013 Act. Following that binding precedent, the appeal was dismissed. The Court gave DDA one year to initiate fresh acquisition under the 2013 Act if it still needed the land, failing which it must hand back physical possession to the landowner.

Lesson Learnt

Government land-acquisition authorities must actually pay compensation (or take possession) within the time limits fixed by the 2013 land acquisition law; failure to do so causes the original acquisition to lapse, leaving the authority to start over under the newer, more protective law if it still wants the land.

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

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