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Delhi Development Authority v. Sukhveer Singh Dagar & Ors.

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 8563 of 2016)Decided 31 Aug 2016
Civil Appeal No. 8563 of 2016
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman

Background

DDA appealed against a finding that its acquisition of the respondent's land had lapsed under Section 24(2) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.

Decision Breakdown

As with the related appeals decided the same day, the Court held the issue was, in principle, covered against DDA by its judgment in Civil Appeal No. 8477 of 2016, and dismissed the appeal. DDA was given one year to initiate fresh acquisition proceedings under Section 11 of the 2013 Act, failing which it had to return possession of the land to the original owner if it was in possession.

Lesson Learnt

Delayed or incomplete land acquisitions carry real legal risk for the acquiring authority; the one-year liberty granted here is a judicially crafted compromise balancing the landowner's statutory right to reclaim stalled land against the public interest in the underlying project.

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

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