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Delhi Development Authority v. Khubhi Ram Sharma and Ors.

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 3363 of 2017)Decided 27 Feb 2017
Civil Appeal No. 3363 of 2017
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice R. Banumathi

Background

DDA had acquired the respondents' land, but possession was never taken and compensation was never paid for an extended period, which is the trigger under Section 24(2) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 for an acquisition to lapse. DDA appealed against a decision that went against it on this point, after losing before the courts below.

Decision Breakdown

The Court held that the point was already settled against DDA by two of its own earlier judgments in similar matters (Civil Appeal No. 8477 of 2016 and Civil Appeal No. 5811 of 2015), and dismissed the appeal on that basis. However, as a concession to the facts of this particular case, it gave DDA one year from the date of the order to initiate fresh land acquisition proceedings by issuing a fresh notification under Section 11 of the 2013 Act; if DDA failed to do so within that year, it was directed to hand back physical possession of the land to the original owner (if DDA was in possession).

Lesson Learnt

Under the 2013 land acquisition law, an acquiring authority that sits on an acquisition without paying compensation or taking possession for too long risks the acquisition lapsing altogether, and courts may still give the authority a limited window to start over, but no more.

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

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