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Delhi Development Authority v. Chander Bhan and Ors.

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 8516 of 2016)Decided 31 Aug 2016
Civil Appeal No. 8516 of 2016
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman

Background

DDA appealed against an order favouring Chander Bhan and others over land it had sought to acquire. As in the related batch of DDA appeals heard the same day, the dispute turned on whether DDA's old acquisition proceedings had lapsed under Section 24(2) of the 2013 Act, an issue already decided against DDA in the lead case, Civil Appeal No. 8477 of 2016.

Decision Breakdown

The Court dismissed the appeal as covered by the lead judgment, but 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. If DDA failed to do so within that year and remained in possession, it was directed to return physical possession of the land to the original owner. Pending applications were disposed of.

Lesson Learnt

A string of similar appeals from the same authority, on the same legal point, will usually be decided the same way once a lead case has settled the principle, but the Court can still fine-tune the practical consequences for each landowner.

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

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