J U D G M E N T

TABLE OF CONTENTS A. PREFACE ................................................................................................ 4 B. THE REFERENCE ...................................................................................... 5 C. JUDICIAL TRAJECTORY ............................................................................. 6 D. FACTS GIVING RISE TO THE REVIEW PETITIONS ....................................... 13 E. THE SPLIT VERDICT ............................................................................... 15 F. SUBMISSIONS....................................................................................... 19 G. QUESTIONS BEFORE US ......................................................................... 25 H. LAW ON REVIEW JURISDICTION .............................................................. 26 I. PRECEDENTS CONSIDERING THE EXPLANATION ......................................... 36 J. OTHER PRECEDENTS ON REVIEW ............................................................. 41 K. ANALYSIS ............................................................................................ 45 L. CONCLUSION ........................................................................................ 79

1. Day in and day out, as Judges of this Court, we are majorly addressed by learned counsel for the parties that the High Courts are either right or wrong; here, in view of a split verdict rendered by an Hon’ble Division Bench (“said Division Bench”, hereafter) comprising two Hon’ble Judges of this Court, we have been addressed by the parties that our distinguished colleagues on the Bench have been right and wrong at the same time. To complete the task that has been entrusted to us, one of the opinions of the Hon’ble Judges comprising the said Division Bench has to be held incorrect unless, of course, harmonization of the two opinions, in any manner, is possible. In the process of considering the rival claims, the exercise of declaring one view as correct and the other incorrect or to harmonize the two views, have necessarily taken us back to the basics of the substantive and procedural laws regulating review jurisdiction of this Court. The effort, we have no hesitation to say, has been really educative as well as rewarding because the erudite arguments advanced from the Bar opened up a new vista of thinking to appreciate points of debate that emerged not only from the facts of the petitions before us but also points arising from certain connected matters, decided by this Court. We record our sincere appreciation for the valuable assistance rendered by the members of the Bar who had the occasion to address this larger Bench.

2. The two Hon’ble Judges comprising the said Division Bench were considering a clutch of review petitions (“RPs”, hereafter), presented either by the Delhi Development Authority or the Government of NCT, Delhi, or the Land and Building Department, etc. (“review petitioners”, hereafter). The RPs urged review of the judgments/orders passed by this Court on either Civil Appeals or Special Leave Petitions carried by the review petitioners from judgments and orders of the High Court of Delhi (“High Court”, hereafter), declaring land acquisition proceedings initiated under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (“1894 Act”, hereafter) as deemed to have lapsed under section 24(2) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act (“2013 Act”, hereafter). By the judgments/orders under review, the said Civil Appeals/Special Leave Petitions stood dismissed. The RPs having been listed before the said Division Bench, the respondents therein (i.e., landowners) had questioned the maintainability of the same by referring to the Explanation to Rule 1 of Order XLVII, Code of Civil Procedure (“CPC”, hereafter). As noted earlier, a split verdict emerged in Govt. of NCT of Delhi v. K.L. Rathi Steels Limited and ors.¹, being the lead matter. Briefly put, the