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Government of NCT of Delhi vs. Siddharth Kapoor & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2023 INSC 215Decided 13 Mar 2023
Civil Appeal No. 1596 of 2023
M.R. Shah · C.T. Ravikumar

Background

The Delhi government had acquired a plot of land, with the compensation award made in 2005 and possession stated to have been taken shortly after. The landowner later went to the Delhi High Court, which relied on an older Supreme Court ruling (Pune Municipal Corporation vs. Harakchand Misirimal Solanki) to declare that the acquisition had "lapsed" under Section 24(2) of the 2013 land acquisition law because compensation/possession formalities were said to be incomplete. The Delhi government appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court noted that the Pune Municipal Corporation judgment the High Court relied on had since been overruled by a five-judge Constitution Bench in Indore Development Authority vs. Manoharlal (2020), which clarified that acquisition proceedings lapse under Section 24(2) only where authorities failed to both take possession AND pay compensation for five years, not if either one was done. Applying this corrected legal position, the Court held that since possession had in fact been taken in this case, there was no lapse. It set aside the High Court's judgment and allowed the government's appeal, restoring the acquisition.

Lesson Learnt

In land acquisition disputes, the deemed "lapse" of an acquisition under Section 24(2) of the 2013 Act applies only when both possession was not taken AND compensation was not paid for five years or more, doing either one is enough to prevent the acquisition from lapsing, per the binding Constitution Bench law in Indore Development Authority.

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

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