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Delhi Development Authority v. Ram Kaur and Ors.

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 8513 of 2016)Decided 31 Aug 2016
Civil Appeal No. 8513 of 2016
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman

Background

DDA again appealed, this time against Ram Kaur and others, in a dispute over land acquisition. As with the related batch of DDA appeals decided the same day, the issue was whether DDA's earlier acquisition proceedings had lapsed under Section 24(2) of the 2013 land acquisition law, a question already decided against DDA in the lead case, Civil Appeal No. 8477 of 2016.

Decision Breakdown

The Court dismissed the appeal, holding the issue was already covered by the lead judgment. It gave DDA one year from the date of the order to begin fresh acquisition proceedings by issuing a notification under Section 11 of the 2013 Act, failing which DDA, if still in possession, was directed to hand back physical possession of the land to the original owner. Pending applications were disposed of.

Lesson Learnt

Even when an appeal is dismissed on a settled point of law, courts can still give the losing party a fair, time-limited chance to correct the underlying procedural defect rather than leaving the matter unresolved indefinitely.

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

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