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Delhi Development Authority v. Umrao Singh & Anr.

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 8691 of 2016)Decided 31 Aug 2016
Civil Appeal No. 8691 of 2016
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice C. Nagappan

Background

DDA appealed to the Supreme Court in a land acquisition dispute involving respondent Umrao Singh, raising the same question that had already been settled against DDA in a companion matter decided on the same day.

Decision Breakdown

The Court held the issue was covered, in principle, against DDA by its judgment in Civil Appeal No. 8477 of 2016 (arising out of SLP(C) No. 8467 of 2015), and dismissed the appeal on that basis. In view of the specific facts, DDA was granted a one-year period to invoke its liberty 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.

Lesson Learnt

This is one of a cluster of near-identical DDA land cases decided together: it reinforces that landowners can hold acquiring authorities to a strict deadline for restarting lapsed acquisitions, failing which possession must revert to them.

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

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