Land Acquisition: Land acquisition proceedings – Releasing of acquired land – Large chunk of area acquired for development and utilisation of land as residential and commercial area – Major portion of the land released between the stage of Notification and the award and after the award – Only small plots of land acquired – Writ petition by the land owners challenging the same – Landowners granted liberty to file a representation before the authorities – Representation seeking release of their acquired land on parity with the similarly situated landowners whose land was released by the State dismissed – However, in writ petitions, the High Court directed release of the land belonging to the land owners from the acquisition – On appeal, held: Action of the appellants in releasing the lands initially in favour of influential persons and, thereafter, on the basis of various orders passed by the High Court which were never challenged demonstrates the arbitrary exercise of powers by the appellants in releasing the acquired lands which as such required for the public purposes – Consideration for future needs and expansion is to be taken into consideration – Except the small portion/plot in question, all other major chunk of the land, have been released either by the State on its own and/or pursuant to the orders passed by the High Court – Land was acquired in the year 1987 but has not been used for the public purpose for which it was acquired – Thus, the High Court rightly quashed the acquisition proceedings and directed its release – However, land which has already been put to use for sewage lines, the land which is needed for the purpose of widening of the road may not be released and High Court ought not to quash acquisition proceedings in respect of such lands – High Court erred in directing for the release of remaining lands acquired – Order passed by the High Court set aside.
ETC.
Judicial deprecation: Land acquisition proceedings – Releasing of acquired land – Lands acquired for the utilization and development as residential and commercial area to develop new sectors by the urban development authority – Acquired lands released from time to time during the stages of the acquisition proceedings – Lands released by the State Government initially in favour of the influential persons and thereafter pursuant to the various orders passed by the High Court which were never challenged by the State – Held: Is highly depreciable – It demonstrates the arbitrary exercise of powers by the State in releasing the acquired lands which as such required for public purposes – State Government is guardian of the public interest and the public – Public interest was required to be considered the paramount interest rather than releasing the lands at initial stage in favour of the influential persons.
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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