land acquisition act-recent ruling by apex court
AJIT KAWATKAR
(Querist) 21 August 2009
This query is : Resolved
with reference to the news mentioned here below,can any body provide full text?
Declaration to acquire land must within one year of notification: SC
21 Aug 2009, 0259 hrs IST, PTI
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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has ruled that the government has to mandatorily issue a “declaration” for acquiring public land within a year after
the “preliminary notification” had been issued as otherwise the acquisition proceedings would become illegal. Upholding the appeal filed by Vijay Narayan Thatte and certain other aggrieved land owners of Maharashtra, the apex court said if the statute prescribes certain rules and prohibitions, then the same have to be complied with.
A bench of Justices Markandeya Katju and Asok Kumar Ganguly quashed the acquisition proceedings launched by Maharashtra government on the ground that the declaration proceedings as mandated under section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, was not followed by the government.
Under section 4 of the Act, the government has to first issue a “preliminary notification” informing the public about its proposal to acquire the public land in question. Thereafter, under section 6 of the Act, the government has to issue a separate “declaration” about its intent to acquire the land. But under section 6, it is clearly stated that such a declaration must be mandatorily made within a year of the issuance of preliminary notification.
In this case, the Maharashtra government first issued the preliminary notification on August 29, 2002, and thereafter the declaration under section 6 on October 30, 2006, more than four years after the preliminary notification.
The aggrieved land holders challenged the declaration but the Bombay High Court rejected their plea following which they appealed in the apex court.
