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Delhi Development Authority v. Gurnam Arora & Ors.

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 8566 of 2016)Decided 31 Aug 2016
Civil Appeal No. 8566 of 2016
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman

Background

DDA appealed against 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 the appeal. DDA was given one year to exercise its liberty under Section 24(2) to initiate fresh acquisition by issuing 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

This case is one of a large group of DDA appeals disposed of identically on the same day, underscoring that the lapsing of a stalled land acquisition is a fact-specific but recurring issue DDA faced across numerous individual landowners in Delhi.

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

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