SC LAYS DOWN NEW NORMS ON LAND ACQUISITION

Disposing some five dozen petitions on land acquisition, the Supreme Court on Thursday held that once compensation tendered unconditionally is refused, the landowner cannot claim acquisition has lapsed if it has not been deposited in the court.

“Claimants/landowners after refusal cannot take advantage of their own wrong and seek protection under Section 24(2) lf the new 2013 land acqusition law,” said a 3judge Bench of Jusices Arun Mishra, Adarsh Kumar Goel and Mohan M Shantanagoudar in a 198-page judgment.

It will have an effect on all land acquisitions by the government as it seeks to interpret the Land Acquisition Act of 1894 and the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act which replaced it in 2013.

The Court held that the provisions of Section 24 in the new Act do not revive barred or stale claims and so such claims cannot be entertained. It also held that taking physical possession under the land acquisition cases is drawing of Panchnama as held in the Banda development authority case.

It also held that payment of compensation within five years does not cover period spent on litigation and the period during which the authorities are disabled to act due to the final or interim order of the court.

The main issues dealt by the Court in the case of Indore Development Authority and others cover interpretation of Section 24 of the new Act and Section 31 of the 1894 Act.

However, since Justice Shantanagoudar differed with the majority judgment on whether a Pune municipal case of 2014 was “per incuriam” or not, the case was ordered to be listed an appropriate bench on February 16, subject to the orders of the Chief Justice.

The majority held it “per incuriam.” It is a Latin word meaning through lack of care in a judgment without reference to statutory provisions of an early relevant judgment.