The main legal point established in the judgment is that under Section 24(2) of the Land Acquisition Act, if the physical possession of the land has not been taken or the compensation has not been paid within five years of the award, the acquisition proceedings shall be deemed to have lapsed.

S. RAVINDRA BHAT, J.

1. In these proceedings, the petitioners had originally sought for quashing of the acquisition of lands which are located at Revenue Estate of village Pochanpur and village Holambi Kalan. The petitioners in W.P.(C) 4721/2002 claim to be the owner of Khasra Nos.12/11(4-6), 12/1(3-7), 12/2(1-9), 19(4-16), 20/1(0-7), 22(4-16), 23/1(1-12) and 27(0-10) situated in the Revenue Estate of Village Pochanpur, Delhi. The petitioner in W.P.(C)436/2003 claims to be owner of Khasra No.96/99/1 (4-2) and 99/2(0-14) of Rectangle No.96, situated in the Revenue Estate of village Holambi Kalan.

2. When these Writ Petitions were originally entertained, the court had granted status quo order restraining the respondents from dispossessing the petitioners from the properties.

3. In W.P.(C) No.4721/2002, the lands were sought to be acquired vide Notifications No.F.10(3)/96/L&B/LA/13417 dated 13.12.2000 under Section 4 and declaration No.F.10(3))/96/L&B/LA/14062 dated 7.12.2001 under Section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act. In W.P.(C) No.436/2003, Notification No.F.10(4)/97/L&B/LA/7329 under Section 4 and declaration No.F.10(32))/96/L&B/LA/6752 under Section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act were issued on 22.08.2001 and 5.7.2002 respectively. This was followed up by the publication of Award No.18/03-04 dated 30.10.2002. The declaration issued under Section 24(2) confined to the petitioners’ land in both the matters. The acquisition proceedings terminated with the publication of Award No.30/2002-03.

4. During the pendency of these proceedings, Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Settlement Act, 2013 was enacted and brought into force w.e.f. 1.1.2014. The petitioners confined their submissions for declaring the acquisition proceedings lapsed under Section 24 (2) of the Act. Section 24 of the said Act reads as follows:

“24.(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, in any case of land acquisition proceedings initiated under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 –

(a) Where no award under section 11 of the said Land Acquisition Act has been made, then, all provisions of this Act relating to the determination of compensation shall apply; or

(b) Where an award under said Section 11 has been made, then such proceedings shall continue under the provisions of the said Land Acquisition Act, as if the said Act has not been repealed.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), in case of land acquisition proceedings initiated under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, where an award under the said section 11 has been made five years or more prior to the commencement of this Act but the physical possession of the land has not been taken or the compensation has not been paid the said proceedings shall be deemed to have lapsed and the appropriate Government, if it so chooses, shall initiate the proceedings of such land acquisition afresh in accordance with the provisions of this Act:

Provided that where an award has been made and compensation in respect of a majority of land holdings has not been deposited in the account of the beneficiaries, then, all beneficiaries specified in the notification for acquisition under section 4 of the said Land Acquisition Act, shall be entitled to compensation in accordance with the provisions of this Act.”

5. Learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that with the advent of the New Act and on account of the judgments of the Supreme Court, in Pune Municipal Corporation and Anr. Vs. Harakchand Misirimal Solanki & Ors. (2014) 3 SCC 183 and Sree Balaji Nagar Residential Association Vs. State of Tamil Nadu & Others, Civil Appeal No.8700/2013 decided on 10.09.2014, the petitioners were entitled for the declaration. The Supreme Court expressed its opinion as follows:

“8. 2013 Act puts in place entirely new regime for compulsory acquisition of land and provides for new scheme for compensation, rehabilitation and resettlement to the affected families whose land ha