Malik Industry & Anr. v. State of Haryana & Ors.
Background
The appellants' land had been compulsorily acquired by the State of Haryana, but during the pendency of their appeal before the Supreme Court they discovered that the compensation amount had never actually been paid to them: it had only been deposited with the Land Acquisition Collector. Relying on Section 24(2) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, the appellants sought a declaration that the entire acquisition proceedings against their land had lapsed.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court relied on its earlier binding precedent in Pune Municipal Corporation & Anr. v. Harakchand Misirimal Solanki & Ors. (2014) 3 SCC 183, which had held that merely depositing compensation with the Land Acquisition Collector, without actually paying it to the landowner, does not satisfy the "payment of compensation" requirement under the 2013 Act. Since it was admitted that the appellants had not been paid, the Court held the land acquisition proceedings against them stood lapsed, and allowed the appeals. The State was, however, given the liberty to initiate a fresh acquisition under the 2013 Act within six months.
Lesson Learnt
When the government acquires land, simply depositing compensation with a government official (rather than actually paying it to the landowner) does not count as payment in law: if genuine payment is never made within the statutory timeframe, even an old, long-pending land acquisition can be declared to have lapsed entirely.