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Shiv Singh & Ors. v. State of Himachal Pradesh & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2018 INSC 415Decided 25 Apr 2018
Civil Appeal No. 4414 of 2018
Justice R.K. Agrawal · Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre

Background

The Himachal Pradesh government sought to acquire the appellants' land for a road-construction project under the 2013 land acquisition law. The appellants filed timely objections to the acquisition, as the law permits. However, the Collector never gave them a hearing on those objections or submitted the legally-required report to the government before the acquisition proceeded, as mandated by Section 15(2) of the Act. The Himachal Pradesh High Court dismissed their writ petition challenging the acquisition, prompting this appeal.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the Collector's failure to follow the mandatory procedure under Section 15(2), giving landowners a hearing on their objections and submitting a report to the government, made the acquisition process legally non-compliant, and that the High Court had failed to notice this defect. The Court found that the State itself could not show any proof of compliance with Section 15(2) on record. It therefore allowed the appeal, set aside the High Court's judgment, and allowed the writ petition in part, directing the Collector to properly decide the appellants' objections, in keeping with Section 15(2)'s requirements, within three months, without being influenced by the Supreme Court's observations.

Lesson Learnt

Government authorities must strictly follow the statutory procedure for hearing landowners' objections before acquiring their land, skipping the mandatory hearing-and-report step under Section 15(2) of the land acquisition law can get an acquisition set aside and sent back for a proper hearing, even years after the process began.

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

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