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Delhi Development Authority vs. Krishan Lal Arora & Ors. (2022 INSC)

Civil Appeal · 2022 INSC 1154Decided 2 Nov 2022
Civil Appeal No. 7960 of 2022
M.R. Shah · M.M. Sundresh

Background

The Delhi Development Authority had taken possession of certain acquired land on 02.09.2006. The original landowner, Krishan Lal Arora, filed a writ petition arguing that because compensation had not been paid to him, the acquisition should be deemed to have lapsed under Section 24(2) of the 2013 Land Acquisition Act. The Delhi High Court agreed and declared the acquisition lapsed solely on the ground of non-payment of compensation, even though possession had admittedly already been taken. DDA appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court allowed DDA's appeal, holding that the High Court's view was directly contrary to the binding five-judge Constitution Bench ruling in Indore Development Authority vs. Manoharlal (2020) 8 SCC 129. That ruling clarified that the word "or" in Section 24(2) (between "possession" and "compensation") must be read as "nor"/"and", meaning a deemed lapse occurs only if BOTH possession has not been taken AND compensation has not been paid for five years or more. Since it was undisputed that possession of the land had already been taken in 2006, non-payment of compensation alone could not trigger a lapse of the acquisition. The Court quashed the High Court's order and dismissed the original writ petition.

Lesson Learnt

Under the 2013 land acquisition law, an acquisition does not lapse merely because compensation remains unpaid. It lapses only if the government has failed to both take possession of the land and pay compensation for five years or more; once possession has been taken, the landowner's remedy is to claim compensation (with interest), not to have the acquisition itself invalidated.

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

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