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Delhi Development Authority v. Balbir Singh and Ors.

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 8726 of 2016)Decided 31 Aug 2016
Civil Appeal No. 8726 of 2016
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice C. Nagappan

Background

DDA challenged a ruling that its acquisition of the respondent's land had lapsed under Section 24(2) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.

Decision Breakdown

The Court found the issue, in principle, covered against DDA by its judgment in Civil Appeal No. 8477 of 2016, and dismissed DDA's appeal. In the peculiar facts of this case, DDA was given one year to exercise its liberty under Section 24(2) to initiate fresh acquisition by issuing a Section 11 notification; if it failed to do so within that year, and was in possession, it had to return physical possession to the original landowner.

Lesson Learnt

Acquiring authorities cannot sit indefinitely on acquired land without completing the legal formalities of acquisition: failure to do so within the statutory timelines exposes the acquisition to being treated as lapsed, restoring the landowner's rights.

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

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