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Raj Kumar Gandhi v. Chandigarh Administration & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2018 INSC 493Decided 11 May 2018
Civil Appeal Nos. 4265-4266 of 2008
Justice Arun Mishra · Justice Uday Umesh Lalit

Background

The Chandigarh Administration acquired land in 1992-93 under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 for a residential-cum-commercial scheme. Landowners challenged the acquisition and the 2003 compensation award before the High Court, arguing (i) the acquisition had lapsed because the award was passed more than three years after the Section 6 declaration, and (ii) the award was invalid because it had been approved by the Advisor to the Administrator rather than the Administrator himself. The High Court dismissed their writ petitions, and the landowners appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the period during which court-ordered stays were operative had to be excluded when computing the three-year limitation period for the award, so the award was not time-barred. On the approval issue, the Court found that the Advisor to the Administrator had validly exercised the Administrator's delegated authority under the Chandigarh (Delegation of Powers) Act, 1987, and that the Administrator had in any event given ex-post facto approval to the award. The Court also noted that identical challenges in related cases concerning the same scheme had already been dismissed and attained finality, so it would be inappropriate to take a different view here. The appeals were accordingly dismissed as devoid of merit, with parties bearing their own costs.

Lesson Learnt

Challenging a decades-old land acquisition on technical grounds becomes very difficult once courts have already upheld the same acquisition scheme in parallel cases: consistency across related litigation weighs heavily against reopening settled questions, and procedural delegation of approval authority (even if later ratified) will usually be upheld if validly exercised.

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

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