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Delhi Development Authority v. Pawan Kumar Garg and Others

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 8657 of 2016)Decided 31 Aug 2016
Civil Appeal No. 8657 of 2016
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice C. Nagappan

Background

Another in the batch of DDA appeals following High Court rulings that land acquisition proceedings over the respondent's land had lapsed for non-payment of compensation or failure to take possession within the 2013 land acquisition law's deadlines.

Decision Breakdown

The Court held the issue was already settled against DDA in its companion judgment in Civil Appeal No. 8477 of 2016 (from SLP(C) No. 8467 of 2015), under Section 24(2) of the 2013 Act. The appeal was dismissed, with DDA given one year to initiate fresh acquisition proceedings if it still wished to acquire the land, failing which it must return physical possession to the landowner.

Lesson Learnt

The deemed-lapse protection under the 2013 land acquisition law applies uniformly: a government body cannot keep relying on a decades-old award once it has missed the statutory deadline for paying compensation or taking possession.

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

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