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Land Acquisition Collector & Anr. vs Ashok Kumar & Ors. (Civil Appeal No. 482 of 2023)

Civil Appeal · 2023 INSC 220Decided 13 Mar 2023
Civil Appeal No. 482 of 2023
M.R. Shah · C.T. Ravikumar

Background

Land in Delhi was under acquisition, but the landowners went to the Delhi High Court arguing that the acquisition should be treated as "lapsed" under Section 24(2) of the 2013 land acquisition law because neither possession of the land was taken nor compensation paid before the new law came into force in 2014. The High Court agreed and declared the acquisition lapsed, relying on an older Supreme Court ruling (Pune Municipal Corporation) and a Delhi High Court precedent. The government authorities appealed.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court noted that, undisputedly, a court "stay order" had been operating and continued right up to 1 January 2014 (when the new Act commenced), which is why the authorities could not physically take possession of the land during that period. Under the Constitution Bench ruling in Indore Development Authority vs Manoharlal, any period during which a court stay order was in force must be excluded when calculating whether the 5-year "inaction" period required for a deemed lapse has occurred. Since the delay here was caused by the court's own stay order and not by government inaction, there was no deemed lapse. The Court also confirmed that Pune Municipal Corporation, which the High Court had relied on, stood overruled by the Constitution Bench. The High Court's order was quashed and the writ petition dismissed.

Lesson Learnt

A delay in taking possession of acquired land caused by a court-ordered stay does not count against the government when deciding whether an acquisition has "lapsed" for inaction: the clock effectively pauses while a stay is in effect.

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

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