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Delhi Development Authority v. Girish Kumar & Others

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 8602 of 2016)Decided 31 Aug 2016
Civil Appeal No. 8602 of 2016
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice C. Nagappan

Background

DDA's acquisition of the respondents' land had not been followed through with payment of compensation or taking of physical possession within the time fixed by law. The landowners obtained a High Court ruling that the acquisition had lapsed under Section 24(2) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. DDA appealed.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held the legal issue stood concluded against DDA by its earlier decision in Civil Appeal No. 8477 of 2016 (arising from SLP(C) No. 8467 of 2015), and dismissed the appeal on that basis. On the specific facts, DDA was given one year to issue a fresh Section 11 notification and reinitiate acquisition; if it failed to do so and remained in possession, it had to hand the land back to the original owners.

Lesson Learnt

An acquiring authority cannot indefinitely delay paying compensation or taking possession after notifying acquisition, doing so risks the acquisition lapsing under Section 24(2), though the law may still allow one final, time-limited chance to restart the process properly.

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

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