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Delhi Development Authority v. Chandan Agarwal and Others

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 8573 of 2016)Decided 31 Aug 2016
Civil Appeal No. 8573 of 2016
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice C. Nagappan

Background

DDA appealed against an order favouring Chandan Agarwal and others over land it had sought to acquire. As with the related batch of DDA land-acquisition appeals decided around the same date, the issue was whether DDA's old acquisition proceedings had lapsed under Section 24(2) of the 2013 Act, already settled against DDA in the lead case, Civil Appeal No. 8477 of 2016.

Decision Breakdown

The Court held the issue was covered against DDA by the lead judgment and dismissed the appeal. It gave DDA one year from the date of the order to initiate fresh acquisition proceedings by issuing a notification under Section 11 of the 2013 Act; failing that, if DDA remained in possession, it was directed to return physical possession of the land to the original owner. Pending applications were disposed of.

Lesson Learnt

The same legal principle governing a lapsed land acquisition applies consistently across different benches of the same Court, giving landowners a reliable, uniform outcome regardless of exactly which judges hear their particular appeal.

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

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