Amendment brought by Land Acquisition Ordinance 2014 is prospective

The amendment in Land Acquistion  Act 2013 brought by the Ordinance of 2014  would not be applicable to those case the appeals were pending much prior to the ordinance. Ordinance in so far as insertion of proviso to the above Section by way of an amendment is prospective.

It was the contention in the instant matter the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (L.A. Act) since has been replaced by the Act of 2013 w.e.f. 01.01.2014 and Section 24(2) of the Act of 2013 provides that where an award under Section 11 of the L.A. Act has been made five years or more prior to the commencement of the Act of 2013 but the physical possession of the land has not been taken or the compensation has not been paid, the said proceedings would be deemed to have lapsed. Accordingly, in the present case, the proceedings under the L.A. Act have lapsed for both the above said reasons because the case of the Appellants satisfied both the conditions as referred to in Section 24(2) of the Act of 2013.

On the contrary it was contended by the authorities concerned that the issue involved in these appeals related to the prayer for re-allotment of the land on the premise that certain other housing societies/institutions were re-alloted the acquired land. Therefore, it was no ground for the claim of the Appellants to dispose of the appeal in terms of Section 24(2) of the Act of 2013.

While disposing of the above issue, the Court referred to the “Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014”, in which a second proviso to Section 24(2) has been inserted which reads as follows:-

“Provided further that in computing the period referred to in this sub-section, any period or periods during which the proceedings for acquisition of the land were held up on account of any stay or injunction issued by any stay or injunction issued by any court or the period specified in the award of a Tribunal for taking possession or such period where possession has been taken but the compensation lying deposited in a court or in any account maintained for this purpose shall be excluded.”

The above said amendment has come into force w.e.f. 01.01.2015.

It was held that the amendment would not be applicable to the case on hand for the reason that these appeals were pending much prior to the ordinance and also the applications under Section 24(2) of the Act of 2013 were filed prior to the amendment to Section 24(2) by Ordinance and the same were heard and reserved for orders on 28.10.2014 and therefore the Ordinance in so far as insertion of proviso to the above Section by way of an amendment is prospective.

[Karnail Kaur & Ors. vs. State of Punjab & Ors.]
(SC, 22.01.2015)
(Civil Appeal No.7424 OF 2013)