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Delhi Development Authority v. Ramnik Singh Uppal & Ors.

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 8532 of 2016)Decided 31 Aug 2016
Civil Appeal No. 8532 of 2016
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman

Background

Another in the series of DDA appeals against findings that specific land acquisitions had lapsed for want of timely compensation/possession. DDA argued it should be allowed to proceed with the acquisition.

Decision Breakdown

The Court held the issue was already decided against DDA in principle by Civil Appeal No. 8477 of 2016 and dismissed this appeal too. It granted DDA a one-year liberty to initiate fresh acquisition under Section 24(2) read with Section 11 of the 2013 Act, failing which DDA, if in possession, must return the land to its original owner.

Lesson Learnt

A citizen whose land was acquired years ago but never finally paid for or taken over has a legal route, the lapse provision, to get it back, and courts apply this consistently across many similar cases rather than case-by-case exceptions.

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

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