News: After accepting payment, owners can't challenge land acquisition: Punjab & Haryana HC-10-10-2020
https://realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/regulatory/after-accepting-payment-owners-cant-challenge-land-acquisition-punjab-haryana-hc/78585549
In Gurgaon, a large number of development projects have been delayed by several years mainly due to litigations over acquisition of land.
GURUGRAM: The Punjab and Haryana high court has held that people can’t seek legal recourse against acquisition of their land if they have already taken compensation for the same, in an order that will help public authorities in ensuring that such annexation for development purposes is not stalled by vexatious litigations.
In Gurgaon, a large number of development projects have been delayed by several years mainly due to litigations over acquisition of land. Many land owners, even after taking enhanced compensation, had filed a number of petitions challenging the acquisition by HSVP.
A division bench of justices Daya Chaudhary and Meenakshi I Mehta gave the ruling on October 1, while hearing a petition related to acquisition of land by HSVP for development work in Sector 9 of Gurgaon, after interpreting Section 101A of Land Acquisition Act 2013.
The HC said that Section 101-A empowers the state government to de-notify the land acquired for public purposes under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, if the same becomes unviable or non-essential. “It is the discretionary power vested in the state which can be exercised in respect of the ‘entire acquired land’ and not just a parcel of land and thus an individual land owner does not have any right to seek de-notification of his individual parcel of land.”
Citing the Indore Development Authority vs Manoharlal case, the HC observed that the grant of liberty would be against the “very spirit” of the judgement passed by Supreme Court by observing that once government takes possession (on paper) of the land after acquisition, the land vests in the state and any person retaining the possession thereafter is to be treated as trespasser.
“Therefore, any grant of such liberty would multiply the litigation and any direction by way of issuing mandamus to any person in any such like circumstances not only would be a wastage of time of the court but there would be no end of any litigation,” the judges said.
The Sector 9 case dates back to 2002 when HSVP (formerly, Huda) acquired around 12 acres and announced compensation in 2004. The land was acquired for public purpose – for development residential and commercial areas for Sector 9.
Though the possession of the land was already taken by the development authority and land owners had received compensation, a petition challenging the acquisition filed but was disposed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2008, with the direction to give representation to authority for release of the land. After the claim of the petitioner for release of the land was rejected in 2012, a fresh petition was filed in HC a year later and it was rejected in the same year.
In 2013, when the new Land Acquisition Act came into force, a fresh petition was filed in HC in 2014 challenging the acquisition under Section 24(2) of the Act, which says that land acquisition stands nullified if no compensation is paid till five years from acquisition and no development work done, and it was disposed in 2015. A fresh petition was filed before HC in 2016 under Section 101A of the act for de-notifying their land.
Ankur Mittal, additional advocate general of Haryana, said he had throughout the hearing opposed the prayer of the petitioner and argued that Section 101A of Land Acquisition Act 2013 gives power to the state to de-notify the already acquired land only in case the “public purpose” for which the land was acquired under the previous act becomes non-viable or non-essential.
“The order has brought the much-needed clarity about the act,” said estate officer-2 of HSVP, Vivek Kalia.
