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Delhi Development Authority v. Prama Bhandari & Ors.

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 9603 of 2016)Decided 22 Sept 2016
Civil Appeal No. 9603 of 2016
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman

Background

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) appealed against orders (arising from two Special Leave Petitions) relating to land it had acquired, where the underlying acquisition was in question. The Court noted that the core issue was already settled against DDA by two earlier decisions of the Supreme Court in similar matters (Civil Appeal No. 8477 of 2016 and Civil Appeal No. 5811 of 2015).

Decision Breakdown

The Court dismissed both of DDA's appeals, following its own earlier rulings on the identical point. However, it gave DDA one year to start fresh land acquisition proceedings under Section 24(2) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, by issuing a fresh notification under Section 11. If DDA failed to do so within that year, and if it was still in possession of the land, it would have to hand back physical possession to the original landowner. The Court clarified that this ruling would not affect separate, pending civil suits (CS(OS) No. 1607/2003 and 1772/2003) before the Delhi High Court, which would be decided independently on their own merits.

Lesson Learnt

When a government acquisition of land lapses or is set aside, the authority does not automatically keep the land forever: it gets a limited window to restart the acquisition process properly, failing which it must return possession to the original owner.

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

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