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Delhi Development Authority v. Vikram Madhok

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 8710 of 2016)Decided 31 Aug 2016
Civil Appeal No. 8710 of 2016
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice C. Nagappan

Background

Another in the same batch of DDA land acquisition appeals decided on 31 August 2016. DDA appealed against an order favouring the respondent landowner, raising, in principle, the same issue already decided against DDA in an earlier case (Civil Appeal No.8477 of 2016).

Decision Breakdown

Leave was granted and the appeal was dismissed, following the earlier ruling on the identical issue. DDA was given one year to exercise its liberty under Section 24(2) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, to initiate fresh acquisition proceedings via a Section 11 notification; otherwise, if in possession, it had to return physical possession of the land to the original owner.

Lesson Learnt

A one-year deadline is the price an acquiring authority pays for a defective acquisition: miss it, and the land must be returned to the person it was taken from.

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

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