SC: no review of land acquisition after process is finalised

The legality of acquisition of land for public purposes cannot be questioned in the court once the Government has taken possession of it, the Supreme Court has ruled.

The legality of acquisition of land for public purposes cannot be questioned in the court once the Government has taken possession of it, the Supreme Court has ruled.

“A writ petition challenging the notification for acquisition of land, if filed after taking possession of it, is not maintainable,” ruled a Bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhan and Dalveer Bhandari.

“The award in respect of the land having become final, the state Government is vested with the powers to take possession of the concerned land,” the court said, which found no reason to disbelieve the state Government’s claim that the possession had been taken much before the filing of the writ petition.

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The case pertained to vast areas of land in Jaipur, Rajasthan, that were sought to be acquired for extension of Civil Lines area.

A notice under Section 52 (2) of the Rajasthan Urban Improvement Act, 1959 for acquisition was issued on June 25, 1975.

However, the petitioner, Swaika Properties Private Limited, who owned the land, did not challenge the acquisition proceedings till 1987.

The petitioner had approached the court on February 17, 1987 once the land was taken over by the Government and finally handed over to Jaipur Development Authority.

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Making it amply clear that any petitions filed after the acquisition proceedings are over, the apex court cited several earlier decisions while dismissing the appeal filed by the Swaika Properties against the Rajasthan High Court’s decision upholding the said acquisition.

It even recalled a landmark decision of 1996 in the case of Municipal Corporation of Greater Bombay vs Industrial Development Investment Company Limited, wherein Justice K Ramaswami, part of the Bench then, had written: “It is a well-settled law that when there is an inordinate delay in filing the petition and when all steps taken in the acquisition proceedings have become final, the court should be loath to quash the notification.”