Land Acquisition Act, 1894 – Punjab Scheduled Roads & Controlled Areas Restrictions of Unregulated Development Act, 1963 – Appellant is the owner in possession of the land in question – The State issued notification u/s.4 of the 1894 Act for acquisition of the land – The LAC passed an award and mentioned that the possession of the land acquired was already taken and the same vests with the Government – Appellant filed various writ petitions challenging land acquisition proceedings, which were dismissed – His last writ petition was dismissed mainly on the ground that the possession is deemed to have been taken and continuing with physical possession would not confer any right whatsoever upon the appellant – Correctness:
Held: In the instant case, by the virtue of the provisions and notification any land falling in the area was required to obtain Change of Land Use (CLU) for development – The appellant’s land fell within this controlled area, yet the appellant did not obtain any CLU – The requirement for CLU being a statutory mandate, release of land, in the absence of CLU is not permissible – As far as appellant’s plea of discrimination is concerned, the appellant’s case stands on a different footing in comparison to others inasmuch as the appellant has not obtained a valid CLU – Thus, the appellant’s plea of discrimination is rejected – However, since the appellant claims to be in continuous physical possession of the land wherein a factory is in operation and the department has not satisfactorily controverted this aspect of the matter, on the special facts of this case, in exercise of power u/Art.142, this Court deems it appropriate to direct that the compensation payable to the appellant should be calculated under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 as on the date of commencement of the said Act. [Paras 7,8,10,13]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Headnotes prepared by: Ankit Gyan. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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