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IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA
SABYASACHI BHATTACHARYYA, UDAY KUMAR
Sukumar Sarkar – Appellant
Versus
State of West Bengal – Respondent
Judgment :
Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya, J.
1. The present appeal arises out of the dismissal of a writ petition filed by the appellants challenging the treatment of the subject-land as an acquired land by the State and for consequential reliefs.
2. The brief facts of the case are that the appellants purchased the subject-plot by several deeds between the years 2019 and 2023. The concerned plots of land have all along been recorded in the Records of Rights in the name of the vendor/predecessor-in-interest of the appellants, who is respondent no. 10 in the present appeal. The appellants allege that an office was set up unlawfully by the PWD at a corner of the said plot, apparently during construction of an adjacent road, and a hotel has also been constructed illegally in a portion of the subject-plot under a Government project.
3. Upon purchase, the appellants approached the concerned Block Land and Land Development Officer (BL & LRO), Shantipur, Nadia, as well as the SDL & LRO for deletion of the recording of “PWD Road” from the 'Remark's column of the Records of Rights. However, when the appellant no.1 approached the office of the concerned BL & LRO on February 11, 2025, the said appellan
The court affirmed that acquisition proceedings lapsed under Section 11A of the Land Acquisition Act, and violation of the principle of Audi Alteram Partem rendered the BL & LRO's order void.
The court established that lapsed acquisition notices under the 1948 Act result in the revival of original ownership, and subsequent notices cannot validate expired proceedings.
The main legal point established in the judgment is that the acceptance of the acquisition and the award by the writ petitioners, along with the possession of the acquired land and the entitlement to....
The court upheld the validity of land acquisition proceedings, emphasizing previous adjudication, statutory compliance, and the impact of delay and laches on claims against the acquisition.
The court established that failure to notify landowners and to take possession in accordance with the law invalidates the land acquisition process.
Delay is fatal in questioning land acquisition proceedings, and courts cannot invalidate acquisition which stood concluded due to delay and laches.
Failure to comply with statutory timelines for land acquisition leads to the lapse of the acquisition, reviving the original owner's title to the land.
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