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The Secretary, The Department of Land and Building and Ors. vs. Anjeet Singh (Dead) through LRs. and Anr. (2022 INSC)

Civil Appeal · 2022 INSC 1230Decided 24 Nov 2022
Civil Appeal No. 8196 of 2022
M.R. Shah · M.M. Sundresh

Background

Land in Khasra No. 156, Village Lado Sarai, New Delhi was acquired in 1986, with the acquisition award declared on 14.09.1986 and possession taken (per the authorities) on 22.09.1986. The landowner's legal heirs filed a writ petition claiming the acquisition had lapsed under Section 24(2) of the 2013 Land Acquisition Act because compensation had never been paid. The Delhi High Court, following its own earlier ruling in a connected case (Jagjeet Singh, concerning the same Khasra number) that had relied on the now-overruled Pune Municipal Corporation precedent, declared the acquisition lapsed without examining whether possession had actually been taken. The land authorities appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court set aside the High Court's order, holding that the Jagjeet Singh precedent the High Court relied on was no longer good law because the Constitution Bench in Indore Development Authority vs. Manoharlal (2020) had overruled Pune Municipal Corporation and clarified that a deemed lapse under Section 24(2) requires BOTH non-possession AND non-payment of compensation for five years or more, not either one alone. The Court noted that even though a civil appeal against the Jagjeet Singh High Court ruling had earlier been dismissed, that dismissal predated the Indore Development Authority Constitution Bench settling the law, and the accompanying review petition had been dismissed only on grounds of delay, not on merits, so it could not shield the present case. On the facts, the authorities had already taken possession in 1986, and separately, the compensation itself had not been paid only because of a genuine ownership dispute among co-owner claimants (an admitted fact), not due to any default by the acquiring authority. For both reasons, no lapse could be claimed, and the appeal was allowed.

Lesson Learnt

A claim that a land acquisition has "lapsed" for non-payment of compensation fails once possession has already been taken by the authorities, and also fails where non-payment is genuinely caused by a dispute among the claimants themselves (such as rival co-owners) rather than any inaction by the government: landowners cannot benefit from a lapse caused by their own internal disputes.

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

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