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Bombay - Non-use of acquired land makes it invalid

It is not just under the old central Land Acquisition Act 1894, but even under state laws, land is acquired and not used for decades, making a mockery of the whole exercise. This was revealed in a judgment of the Supreme Court last week involving the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act. In 1991, the state government reserved for acquisition prime land in Mumbai's Vikhroli suburb for laying additional railway tracks. Even more than a decade later, no steps were taken by the authorities to utilise the land and no explanation was given. The land use was changed and the plan was to build a road. The land owner, Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Co, then moved the Bombay High Court arguing the state government had no power to change the usage. Its writ petition was dismissed. On appeal, the Supreme Court set aside the high court ruling and quashed the notification due to the long lapse of time. Recently, the Supreme Court had passed several judgments in cases in which the land was not utilised for more than five years after acquisition and, therefore, the new law was applied and acquisitions were quashed. Even last week, in a large batch of cases, the court invoked Section 24 (2) of the 2013 law to set aside the acquisitions (Karnail Kaur vs state of Punjab).

Article referred: http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/non-use-of-acquired-land-makes-it-invalid-115012500802_1.html

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