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Govt of NCT of Delhi Through Secretary, Land and Building Department and Anr. vs. Ram Prakash Sehrawat and Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2022 INSC 1291Decided 15 Dec 2022
Civil Appeal No. 9201 of 2022
M.R. Shah · S. Ravindra Bhat

Background

Land was notified for acquisition way back in 1965, with the award declared and possession taken over and handed to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) in September 1986, according to the Government's counter-affidavit and possession-taking records. Roughly 29 years later, the respondents approached the Delhi High Court claiming the acquisition had lapsed under Section 24(2) of the 2013 Act, and the High Court agreed, relying on the (later overruled) Pune Municipal Corporation precedent and citing non-payment of compensation, without deciding the possession question. The respondents separately admitted there was an unauthorized residential colony on the land, for which a regularization case was pending elsewhere in the High Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found that possession proceedings on record showed the land was handed over to the Land and Building Department back in 1986, decades before the 2013 Act, and that the respondents' own admission of an "illegal residential colony" pending regularization undercut their claim to lawful possession. Applying Indore Development Authority v. Manoharlal (2020) 8 SCC 129, the Court reiterated that a lapse requires both non-possession and non-payment of compensation; since possession had long been taken, the High Court's reliance on the overruled Pune Municipal Corporation ruling could not stand. The Supreme Court set aside the High Court's order, without commenting on the separate, still-pending regularization writ petition.

Lesson Learnt

Decades-old land acquisitions where the government already took possession cannot be reopened and declared "lapsed" just because compensation payment is disputed, and living on acquired government land without authorization does not itself create a valid claim to defeat the acquisition.

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

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