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Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. (HSIIDC) & Ors. vs. M/s Honeywell International (India) Pvt. Ltd.

Not available · 2023 INSC 353Decided 11 Apr 2023
Not available
M.R. Shah · C.T. Ravikumar

Background

This judgment disposes of a very large batch (well over 100) of connected civil appeals arising from land acquisition proceedings in Haryana, including the lead matter involving HSIIDC and Honeywell International (India) Pvt. Ltd. Landowners had challenged the original acquisition of their lands under the old Land Acquisition Act, 1894, and/or separately sought a declaration that the acquisition had "lapsed" under Section 24(2) of the newer 2013 Act (which deems an acquisition to lapse if physical possession was not taken or compensation not paid). Relying on an earlier Supreme Court ruling (Pune Municipal Corporation), the Punjab and Haryana High Court had declared the acquisitions lapsed in all these cases without deciding the other challenges to the acquisition on their merits. HSIIDC and the State of Haryana appealed.

Decision Breakdown

By the time this batch reached the Supreme Court, a five-judge Constitution Bench in Indore Development Authority vs. Manoharlal had already overruled the Pune Municipal Corporation approach and clarified the correct test under Section 24(2). Applying that binding precedent, the Court held that the High Court's declarations of deemed lapse, which rested entirely on the now-overruled reasoning, could not stand. For the group of appeals where landowners had also raised other, unresolved grounds against the original acquisition (not just the Section 24(2) point), the Court set aside the lapse declarations and sent those cases back to the High Court to decide the remaining grounds afresh, on their own merits. For the appeals where landowners had sought only the Section 24(2) relief, the Court simply set aside the lapse declarations outright, holding there was no deemed lapse in those cases either.

Lesson Learnt

Rights secured under a land acquisition "deemed lapse" claim are only as durable as the legal precedent they rest on. Once the Supreme Court's Constitution Bench in Indore Development Authority changed the test for when an acquisition is deemed to lapse, cases decided under the older, looser test could be reopened and reversed.

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

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