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Delhi Development Authority vs Shiv Raj & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2023 INSC 396Decided 19 Apr 2023
Civil Appeal No. 2934 of 2023
M.R. Shah · Ahsanuddin Amanullah · C.T. Ravikumar as the co-judge

Background

The Delhi High Court had declared that the Delhi Development Authority's acquisition of certain land was deemed to have lapsed under Section 24(2) of the 2013 land acquisition law, on the basis that compensation had not been paid, relying on the Supreme Court's earlier ruling in Pune Municipal Corporation vs Harakchand Misirimal Solanki. The DDA's own case, however, was that possession of the land had already been taken over back on 21.04.2006. The DDA appealed the High Court's ruling to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court noted that the Pune Municipal Corporation decision relied on by the High Court had since been expressly overruled by a five-judge Constitution Bench in Indore Development Authority vs Manoharlal, which clarified that Section 24(2)'s "or" between possession and compensation must be read as "nor"/"and", meaning a deemed lapse occurs only where authorities failed to take possession AND failed to pay compensation for five years or more. Since it was undisputed that the DDA had already taken possession of the land in 2006, there could be no deemed lapse merely because compensation had not been paid. Applying this settled law, the Supreme Court held the High Court's judgment unsustainable, quashed it, and ruled that there was no deemed lapse of the acquisition.

Lesson Learnt

Under the 2013 land acquisition law, an acquisition lapses only if the authority failed BOTH to take possession and to pay compensation for five years or more before the law came into force; once possession has been taken, non-payment of compensation alone does not revive or lapse the acquisition (though the landowner may still be entitled to compensation/interest separately).

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

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