Govt. of NCT of Delhi vs Sunil Jain & Ors.
Background
Land in Delhi was acquired under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. The original landowners challenged the acquisition in litigation that went all the way to the Supreme Court, which upheld the acquisition; because of that pending litigation, the Government could not take physical possession of the land. Sunil Jain and others, who had purchased the land after the acquisition award, filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court claiming the acquisition had lapsed under Section 24(2) of the 2013 Act because neither possession had been taken nor compensation paid. The High Court allowed the petition in July 2017, relying on Pune Municipal Corporation (2014), without examining whether such subsequent purchasers had any right to bring the challenge.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court allowed the Government's appeal and dismissed the writ petition. It held that a subsequent purchaser, someone who bought the land after the acquisition award, has no locus (legal standing) to challenge the acquisition or claim it has lapsed, a point already settled by the three-judge bench in Shiv Kumar vs Union of India (2019) and later cases. On the merits too, the High Court's order could not stand: the Constitution Bench in Indore Development Authority vs Manoharlal (2020) held that any period during which a court stay prevented the authorities from taking possession must be excluded, and a landowner whose own litigation blocked possession cannot then turn around and claim the benefit of a lapse for non-possession. Finally, Pune Municipal Corporation, the sole basis of the High Court's decision, had been expressly overruled by Indore Development Authority.
Lesson Learnt
Buying land that has already been acquired by the government does not give the buyer a right to challenge that acquisition: subsequent purchasers have no standing to claim a lapse. And a landowner cannot block possession through their own court cases and then argue the acquisition lapsed because possession was never taken.