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Pune Municipal Corporation and another v. Harakchand Misirimal Solanki and others

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 877 of 2014)Decided 24 Jan 2014
Civil Appeal No. 877 of 2014
Justice R.M. Lodha · Justice Madan B. Lokur · Justice Kurian Joseph

Background

Pune authorities acquired land for a forest garden and made an award in 2008. Landowners challenged the acquisition and did not receive the offered compensation, which the authorities placed in the government treasury. While the corporation's appeals were pending, the new land-acquisition law took effect in January 2014 and the landowners invoked its lapse provision.

Decision Breakdown

In this 2014 decision, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeals because it held the acquisition deemed to have lapsed under Section 24(2) of the 2013 Act. It interpreted payment to require either payment to the entitled person or, where the specified obstacles arose, deposit in the appropriate court. Deposit in the government treasury did not satisfy that interpretation, and the award was more than five years old when the new Act commenced. The Court therefore did not need to examine the High Court's other reasons for invalidating the acquisition. This interpretation was subsequently overruled and is recorded here as the historical holding.

Lesson Learnt

The case illustrates how the statutory method of handling compensation can affect a landowner's challenge. Its specific 2014 rule about lapse must not be used as current guidance, because later binding authority changed that interpretation.

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

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