Conditions for fulfillment of Section 24 of RFCTLARR Act 2013 #indianlaws

Section 24(2) of RTFCTLARR Act 2013 commences with a non-obstante clause and according to said provision if the physical possession of the land has not been taken and compensation has not been deposited by the Acquiring Authority before the appropriate forum, the proceedings initiated under the Act, 1894 is deemed to have been lapsed.

In a Writ Petition filed before the High Court, the Appellant had taken up two contentions, firstly, that the procedure prescribed Under Section 5A of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 was not complied with by the acquiring authority and secondly, that the acquired land had constructions and, therefore should be released in favour of the Appellant as the other portion of land was released in favour of the land owners. The relief as sought was rejected.

Following the Judgement of the Supreme Court in the matter of Pune Municipial Corporation the Supreme Court in another judgement held  in view of Section 24(2) of the RFTCTLARR Act 2013, the award passed by the Land Acquisition Collector was liable to be set aside since the physical possession of the land was not taken and also the compensation was yet to be paid

The Court while allowing the appeal held that  The above provision was held to be squarely applicable to the Appellant’s case and the appeal was accordingly allowed.

[Bharat Kumar vs. State of Haryana and Anr.]
(SC, 04.02.2014)