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Delhi Development Authority v. Goverdhan and Others

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 8584 of 2016)Decided 31 Aug 2016
Civil Appeal No. 8584 of 2016
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice C. Nagappan

Background

DDA appealed against a finding 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 held the issue, in principle, covered against DDA by its judgment in Civil Appeal No. 8477 of 2016, and dismissed the appeal. DDA was given one year to exercise its liberty under Section 24(2) to initiate fresh acquisition proceedings via a Section 11 notification, failing which it had to return possession of the land to the original owner if it was in possession.

Lesson Learnt

Part of the same batch of DDA land-lapse appeals decided on identical reasoning: a reminder that acquiring authorities must complete acquisition formalities within statutory timelines or risk losing the acquired land back to its original owner.

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

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