Summary
The High Court declared an acquisition lapsed while an earlier no-coercive-action order restrained the authorities concerning the land. Applying Indore Development Authority, the Court held that the operative restraint period had to be excluded from the statutory five-year computation and reversed the lapse declaration on that ground. It also clarified that the earlier order merely assumed the landowners’ possession for considering their withdrawal application, rather than finally finding possession in their favour.
Issues
- Whether the acquisition could be declared lapsed under section 24(2) despite the subsisting court restraint.
- Whether the earlier direction to consider withdrawal conclusively established continued possession by the landowners.
Provisions considered
- Section 24(2), Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013Applied Indore Development Authority’s exclusion of operative court-restraint periods in assessing the five-year requirement. (¶¶ 6, 7.3-10)
Held
- Indore Development Authority displaced the Pune Municipal Corporation rule relied on below. Under the applicable test, the court-restraint period must be excluded when computing five years of the authorities’ inaction. (¶¶ 6, 7.3)
- The earlier direction to consider the landowners’ withdrawal application was made on an assumption of possession and contained no specific finding establishing their possession. The authorities’ assertion of possession in 1986 was also not raised for the first time in the Supreme Court. (¶ 7-7.2)
- Even assuming possession remained with the landowners and compensation had not been tendered, the no-coercive-action direction continued when the 2013 Act commenced because the withdrawal application remained undecided. On that ground the lapse declaration was unsustainable; the Court did not resolve the disputed payment and possession issues as its operative basis. (¶ 7.3-10)
Result
Appeals allowed to the stated extent; the High Court’s declaration of deemed lapse was quashed and set aside. No costs.