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Delhi Development Authority v. Mohd. Hanif and Ors.

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 8692 of 2016)Decided 31 Aug 2016
Civil Appeal No. 8692 of 2016
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice C. Nagappan

Background

This is another in a series of appeals by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) against orders favouring landowners whose land had been the subject of old acquisition proceedings. DDA brought the matter to the Supreme Court by way of a Special Leave Petition that was converted into this appeal.

Decision Breakdown

The Court held that the point of principle involved was already decided against DDA in its earlier ruling in Civil Appeal No. 8477 of 2016, and dismissed the appeal on that basis. As with the related batch of appeals, the Court gave DDA one year to invoke its liberty under Section 24(2) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 and issue a fresh notification under Section 11 to restart acquisition. If DDA did not act within that year and was in possession of the land, it would have to hand physical possession back to the original owner.

Lesson Learnt

Once an old land acquisition lapses under the 2013 Act, the acquiring authority gets a limited window to restart the process properly: it cannot keep occupying the land on the strength of a lapsed acquisition.

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

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