Delhi Development Authority vs. MGS (India) Private Limited & Ors.
Background
Land had been acquired and an award for compensation declared years before the respondent company purchased the property by registered sale deed. The respondent, as the new owner, then went to the Delhi High Court claiming the acquisition proceedings had lapsed under Section 24(2) of the 2013 land acquisition law. The High Court agreed and declared the acquisition lapsed, relying on an earlier Supreme Court ruling (Manav Dharam Trust) on the point. The DDA and the Delhi Government appealed, arguing the High Court never even addressed their objection that a person who buys land only after the acquisition and the award are already final has no legal standing to challenge or seek a "lapse" of that acquisition.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court held that it is now well settled, in its own decisions in Shiv Kumar vs. Union of India and DDA vs. Godfrey Phillips (I) Ltd. : that a subsequent purchaser who buys land after acquisition proceedings and the award are complete has no locus standi to challenge the acquisition or claim it has lapsed. The Manav Dharam Trust decision the High Court relied on had itself already been declared "per incuriam" (wrongly decided, without considering binding precedent) in those later rulings. Since the High Court never properly dealt with the objection to the respondent's standing, its judgment was unsustainable. Both connected appeals were allowed, the High Court's order was quashed, and the Court held there would be no deemed lapse of the acquisition.
Lesson Learnt
Buying land that has already been through government acquisition proceedings does not give the buyer any right to later contest or unwind that acquisition, only the original landowner(s) at the time of acquisition have that standing.