GOVT. OF NCT OF DELHI Vs. SUNIL JAIN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned judgment and order dtd. 17/7/2017 passed by the High Court of Delhi at New Delhi in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 2989 of 2016 by which the High Court has allowed the said writ petition preferred by the private respondents herein -original writ petitioners and has declared that the acquisition with respect to the land in question 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 the Act 2013), the Government of NCT of Delhi has preferred the present appeal.

(2.) Having gone through the impugned judgment and order passed by the High Court and para 5, it appears that the original writ petitioners being the subsequent purchasers of the land in question they do not derive any right or title to the land at the time of Award and thereafter cannot challenge the acquisition proceedings. Therefore, it was the specific case that the original petitioners had no locus to file the writ petition and seek any relief with respect to the acquisition. From the counter filed before the High Court it appears that it was also the case on behalf of the appellant and so stated in the counter affidavit that the possession of the land in question could not be taken over due to the pending litigation which ended upto this Court upholding the acquisition proceedings. However, thereafter and despite the above and without even considering the locus of the original writ petitioners to challenge the acquisition/lapsing of the acquisition, solely relying upon the fact that the possession has not been taken over and the compensation is not paid 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 writ petition and has declared that the acquisition with respect to the land in question is deemed to have lapsed under Sec. 24(2) of the Act, 2013.

(3.) In view of the above and for the reason stated above, the impugned judgment and order passed by the High Court is unsustainable and the same deserves to be quashed and set aside and is accordingly set aside. Consequently, the original writ petition filed by original writ petitioners praying for lapse of the acquisition proceedings accordingly stands dismissed.