STATE OF ARUNACHAL PRADESH Vs. MIHIN LALING

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) The core controversy in the instant set of appeals concerns the purported legal dissonance between two Statutes, both of which inter alia provide for land acquisition by the State authorities. While on the one hand is the Balipara/Tirap/Sadiya Frontier Tract Jhum Land Regulation, 1947 (hereinafter, '1947 Regulations'), a pre- independence legislation governing the acquisition of 'Jhum' lands in the State of Arunachal Pradesh; on the other are the settled land laws prevailing in the rest of the country, i.e. either the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter, '1894 Act') or its successor-statue, the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (hereinafter, '2013 Act').

(3.) The State of Arunachal Pradesh and its Authorities are before us in appeal against the judgment and final order dtd. 12/9/2022, passed by a Division Bench of the Gauhati High Court (Itanagar Bench) (hereinafter, 'High Court') with respect to the validity of the compensation provided for acquisition of certain 'Jhum' lands, undertaken under the provisions of the 1947 Regulations.