Subsequent Purchasers Have No Right To Question Acquisition Of Land: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court bench comprising Justices M.R. Shah and C.T. Ravikumar bserved that subsequent purchaser has no locus to challenge the acquisition of land and this becomes particularly essential when the original owners did not challenge the acquisition at all. The court was hearing an appeal challenging the order of the high court which held that the acquisition in question is deemed to have lapsed by virtue of section 24(2) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation, and Resettlement Act,2013. Thereafter the government of NCT Delhi preferred the present appeal.

In the matter at hand it has been submitted on behalf of the the land acquisition collector that original owners of the land in question never challenged the acquisition and hence the original write petitioner, that is, the recorded owners had no right to challenge the acquisition either. It was further submitted that the original writ petitioner purchased the land in question after the notification under Section 4 was issued. At this stage, it is required to be noted that the notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 was issued in 1980 and the declaration under Section 6 of the Act was made in 1985 and the award under Section 11 of the Act, 1894 was published in 1987. 

The bench relied on the decisions in Shiv Kumar & Anr V. Union of India & Ors (2019) and Delhi Development Authority V. Godfrey Phillips and other cases and observed that subsequent purchaser has no locus to challenge the acquisition or lapsing of acquisition. The court further noted that the high court had erred in entertaining the writ petition as he is a subsequent purchaser and this becomes particularly essential when the original owners did not challenge the acquisition at all.

CASE: GOVERNMENT OF NCT OF DELHI AND ANR. V. M/S BEADS PROPERTIES PVT. LTD. &ORS.

CIVIL APPEAL NO. 1522 OF 2023

Remarks:

Section 4 in The Land Acquisition Act, 1894 : Publication of preliminary notification and powers of officers thereupon.

Section 24. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), in case of land acquisition proceedings initiated under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (1 of 1894), where an award under the said section 11 has been made five years or more prior to the commencement of this Act but the physical possession of the land has not been taken or the compensation has not been paid the said proceedings shall be deemed to have lapsed and the appropriate Government, if it so chooses, shall initiate the proceedings of such land acquisition afresh in accordance with the provisions of this Act:

Provided that where an award has been made and compensation in respect of a majority of land holdings has not been deposited in the account of the beneficiaries, then, all beneficiaries specified in the notification for acquisition under section 4 of the said Land Acquisition Act, shall be entitled to compensation in accordance with the provisions of this Act.