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Land and Building Department, Govt. of NCT of Delhi & Anr. vs. Mahipal Singh & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2022 INSC 1251Decided 2 Dec 2022
Civil Appeal No. 8932 of 2022
M.R. Shah · C.T. Ravikumar

Background

The Delhi High Court had declared land acquisition proceedings lapsed under Section 24(2) of the 2013 land acquisition law, even though the government's own record (reproduced in the High Court's judgment) showed that possession of the land had actually been taken on 03.12.2012 and handed over to the Delhi Development Authority, and that compensation had been sent to a Reference Court in 2014 because of a dispute over how it should be split among claimants. The High Court still found a "lapse," relying solely on the fact that compensation had not been directly tendered before the 2013 Act came into force, citing the Pune Municipal Corporation precedent.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held the High Court's approach was unsustainable because Pune Municipal Corporation had since been overruled by the Constitution Bench in Indore Development Authority vs. Manoharlal (2020), which clarified that once possession has genuinely been taken, there can be no "lapse" under Section 24(2), and that sending disputed compensation to a Reference Court for apportionment is not the same as failing to pay it. Since possession here was demonstrably taken in 2012, the acquisition could not be treated as lapsed merely because of an ongoing compensation-apportionment dispute. The High Court's judgment was quashed and the appeal allowed.

Lesson Learnt

Once the government has actually taken possession of acquired land, a later dispute over how compensation should be divided among claimants does not cause the acquisition itself to lapse.

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

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