GOVERNMENT OF NCT OF DELHI Vs. KRISHNA SAINI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned judgment and order passed by the High Court of Delhi at New Delhi in Writ Petition (C) No. 10135 of 2015 by which the High Court has declared that the acquisition proceedings initiated under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter referred to as "Act, 1894") in respect of the subject land is deemed to have lapsed under Sec. 24(2) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (hereinafter referred to as "Act, 2013"), the Government of NCT of Delhi has preferred the present appeal.

(2.) We have gone through the impugned judgment and order passed by the High Court. Before the High Court, it was the specific case on behalf of the appellants - original respondents that the possession of the subject land was taken on 5/9/2002. The same was disputed by the original writ petitioners. However, thereafter, solely on the ground that the compensation has not been tendered and relying upon the decision of this Court in the case of Pune Municipal Corporation and Anr. Vs. Harakchand Misirimal Solanki and Ors., (2014) 3 SCC 183, the High Court has allowed the said writ petition and has declared that the land acquisition proceedings under the Act, 1894 have lapsed by virtue of Sec. 24(2) of the Act, 2013.

(3.) The decision of this Court in the case of Pune Municipal Corporation and Anr. (supra), which has been relied upon by the High Court while passing the impugned judgment and order has been specifically overruled by the Constitution Bench of this Court in the case of Indore Development Authority Vs. Manoharlal and Ors., (2020) 8 SCC 129. In paragraphs 365 and 366, the Constitution Bench of this Court has observed and held as under:-