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Reliance Power Ltd. v. Babu Singh and others

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal Nos. 8791-8818 of 2014)Decided 16 Sept 2014
Civil Appeal Nos. 8791-8818 of 2014
Justice T.S. Thakur · Justice C. Nagappan · Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel

Background

Uttar Pradesh acquired land for a power project using urgency powers that bypassed landowners' objections. The High Court partly quashed the acquisition and directed fresh consideration of objections, with conditions about refunding compensation. Both the company and some landowners appealed, but the company later said the project was no longer feasible and surrendered its rights.

Decision Breakdown

The Court disposed of the appeals and connected writ petition as having no surviving purpose. There had been no stay of the High Court's 2009 judgment, and the State had not challenged it. The statutory time for a further acquisition declaration or award had expired, so the proceedings had lapsed. A fresh objection hearing and the linked refund or recovery directions could therefore no longer operate. The Court left the company free to pursue any other remedy to recover payments and landowners free to claim damages in separate proceedings; it did not decide those claims.

Lesson Learnt

Expired acquisition proceedings cannot be revived simply by continuing an objection hearing. This decision left compensation recovery and damages to separate proceedings, so it did not automatically settle either side's financial claims.

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

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