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Delhi Development Authority v. Ram Singh and Ors

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 8665 of 2016)Decided 31 Aug 2016
Civil Appeal No. 8665 of 2016
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice C. Nagappan

Background

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) appealed against a ruling that its land acquisition proceedings against Ram Singh and others had lapsed. The DDA's appeal raised, in principle, the same legal issue the Supreme Court had already decided against the DDA in a separate case, Civil Appeal No. 8477 of 2016 (arising out of SLP (Civil) No. 8467 of 2015), concerning when land acquisition proceedings lapse under the 2013 Act for non-payment of compensation/non-taking of possession.

Decision Breakdown

The Court held that this appeal was squarely covered by its own prior ruling against the DDA on the identical legal point, and accordingly dismissed the appeal. As a concession in the specific facts of this case, the Court gave the DDA one year to exercise its liberty under Section 24(2) of the 2013 Act to initiate fresh acquisition proceedings by issuing a fresh Section 11 notification; if the DDA failed to do so within that year, and was in possession of the land, it was directed to return physical possession to the original landowner.

Lesson Learnt

Once the Supreme Court has settled a point of law in one case, it will apply the same ruling to other pending appeals raising the identical issue; landowners whose land was acquired long ago but never actually taken over or paid for may be entitled to have the acquisition treated as lapsed, though the acquiring authority may still get a fresh opportunity to start the process again within a fixed timeframe.

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

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