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Delhi Development Authority v. Jai Bhagwan Yadav and Ors.

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 8683 of 2016)Decided 31 Aug 2016
Civil Appeal No. 8683 of 2016
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice C. Nagappan

Background

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) had acquired land decades ago, but physical possession was never taken by the DDA despite no stay being in operation. The landowner's representatives argued before the courts below that this entitled them to a declaration that the acquisition had lapsed under the new land acquisition law. DDA appealed to the Supreme Court against the finding that favoured the landowners.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the point of principle in this appeal was already covered against DDA by its own earlier decision in Civil Appeal No.8477 of 2016 (arising out of SLP(C) No.8467 of 2015), and accordingly dismissed the appeal. As a one-time concession given the peculiar facts, the Court gave DDA one year from the date of the order to initiate fresh acquisition proceedings by issuing a fresh Section 11 notification under the 2013 Act. The Court made clear that if DDA failed to issue that notification within the year, and if it was in possession of the land, it would have to hand back physical possession to the original landowner.

Lesson Learnt

Under Section 24(2) of the 2013 land acquisition law, an acquiring authority that neither pays compensation nor takes possession for five years or more risks having the acquisition declared lapsed: simply holding an old acquisition notification on paper is not enough to keep it alive.

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

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