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Land and Building Department & Anr. vs. Manish Sethi & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2023 INSC 137Decided 17 Feb 2023
Civil Appeal No. 945 of 2023
M.R. Shah · C.T. Ravikumar · Sanjay Karol

Background

The Delhi High Court had declared that acquisition of certain land was deemed to have lapsed under Section 24(2) of the 2013 Act, on the ground that compensation had not been paid to the landowners, relying on the earlier Pune Municipal Corporation ruling. The Land and Building Department (Delhi government) had specifically told the High Court that possession of the land had already been taken back in March 2007. The Department appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that Pune Municipal Corporation had been overruled by the Constitution Bench in Indore Development Authority vs. Manoharlal (2020), which clarified that a deemed lapse under Section 24(2) requires both non-possession AND non-payment of compensation together, not either alone. Since the government's undisputed stand was that possession of the land had been taken in 2007, there could be no automatic lapse merely because compensation remained unpaid. The Supreme Court therefore set aside the High Court's judgment and held there was no deemed lapse of the acquisition.

Lesson Learnt

Even where a landowner has not been paid, an acquisition will not lapse under the 2013 land acquisition law if the government can show it already took possession of the land, both conditions (no possession AND no payment) must be met together for the acquisition to be deemed to have lapsed.

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

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