TMI Blog1993 (9) TMI 343X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... related to 2,153 Bighas of land, whereas the declaration dated January 13, 1969 was in respect of 88 Bighas. A declaration under Section 6 had been made on December 6, 1966 in respect of 5,898 Bighas of land which is the subject-matter of controversy in other writ petitions. 2. According to the petitioners, having issued the declarations in respect of several thousand Bighas of lands, no further steps, for making of the award or payment of the compensation, were taken for more than 14 years from the date of the declarations under Section 6 of the Act. The awards were made only in the years 1980, 1981 and 1983. This procedure was adopted only to peg the market value of the lands between the years 1959 and 1965. This has inflicted great injury to the petitioners, inasmuch as the compensation has been worked out with reference to the dates of notifications under Section 4 of the Act. 3. The power to acquire private property for public use is an attribute of sovereignty and is essential to the existence of a Government. The power of eminent domain was recognised on the principle that the sovereign State can always acquire the property of a citizen for public good, without the ow ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is that it requires award to be made and compensation to be paid before the land, which is the subject-matter of acquisition, vests in the Government. This is apparent from Section 16, which says that when the Collector has made an award under Section 11, he may take possession of the land, which shall thereupon vest absolutely in the Government, free from all encumbrances . Normally, in statutes relating to acquisition of interest of the holder of any right, questions of assessment and payment of compensation arise after the vesting of the right, title, interest of the holder. But the Act conceives that there may be delay in taking possession, due to some unavoidable reasons and, as such, making of the award or payment of the compensation should not be dependent on taking of the possession of such land and vesting thereof in the Government. Still, the experience of the courts have been that proceedings for land acquisition have been moving at snail's pace for reasons not always easy to ascertain. 6. In the case of State of Gujarat v. Patel Raghav Natha1(1969) 2 SCC 187: AIR 1969 SC 1297: (1970) 1 SCR 335, it was considered whether in a statute, if for exercise of the power ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Bench of the Allahabad High Court, the amendment of 1967, was the result of a decision of this Court in the State of M.P. v. Vishnu Prasad Sharma6 holding successive notifications, under Section 6, with excessive intervening delay between a notification under Section 4(2) and a declaration under Section 6, keeping the owner or other person entitled to compensation in suspense all the time, to be illegal. It may be that, if an unreasonable delay between a declaration and its notification is shown to exist, it may raise a suspicion about the existence of the declaration itself or about the bona fides of acquisition proceedings. 10. Craies on Statute Law, Seventh Edn., p. 282, has also emphasised that the proceeding for compulsory acquisition must be concluded without unreasonable delay: Powers conferred by Act of Parliament must, as a general rule, be exercised within a reasonable time after notice has been given to the persons whose property will be affected by their exercise, otherwise the notice will be liable to be treated as being no longer effective. 11. English Courts have been consistently impressing that the land acquisition proceeding should be completed within ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hall lapse: Provided that in a case where the said declaration has been published before the commencement of the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Act, 1984, the award shall be made within a period of two years from such commencement. Explanation.- In computing the period of two years referred to in this section, the period during which any action or proceeding to be taken in pursuance of the said declaration is stayed by an order of a Court shall be excluded. 14. The Parliament has recognised and taken note of the inaction and non-exercise of the statutory power on the part of the authorities, enjoined by the provisions of the Act to complete the acquisition proceedings within a reasonable time and because of that now a time-limit has been fixed for making of the award, failing which the entire proceeding for acquisition shall lapse. But, can it be said that before the introduction of the aforesaid amendment in the Act, the authorities were at liberty to proceed with the acquisition proceedings, irrespective of any schedule or time-frame and to complete the same as and when they desired? It is settled that in a statute where for exercise of power no time-limit is fixed, it ha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... cades, in reality, the market rate, on the date of the notification under Section 4(1) is a mere fraction, of the rate prevailing at the time of its determination in the Award. 15. Mr Jaitley, appearing for Delhi Development Authority, took a stand that even if it be assumed that there has been an unreasonable delay in completion of the land acquisition proceedings, that delay has been condoned and validated by Section 11-A aforesaid, which was introduced by the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Act, 1984. He pointed out that in view of the proviso to Section 11 A of the Act, where a declaration under Section 6 had been published before the commencement of the Amendment Act of 1984, like in the present cases, the awards can be made within a period of two years from the commencement of such Act i.e. up to September 23, 1986. On a first impression, this argument is attractive. But, from a reading of Section 11-A, it is apparent that the said section neither purports to validate any pending acquisition, nor it condones any delay which had already occurred. The main part of Section 11-A introduces a statutory mandate to make an award within a period of two years, from the date of the pub ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ities, who had to perform their statutory duties. Can the statutory authority take a plea that although it has not performed its duty within a reasonable time, but it is of no consequence because the person, who has been wronged or deprived of his right, has also not invoked the jurisdiction of the High Court or of this Court for a suitable writ or direction to grant the relief considered appropriate in the circumstances? The authorities are enjoined by the statute concerned to perform their duties within a reasonable time, and as such they are answerable to the Court why such duties have not been performed by them, which has caused injury to claimants. By not questioning, the validity of the acquisition proceedings for a long time since the declarations were made under Section 6, the relief of quashing the acquisition proceedings has become inappropriate, because in the meantime, the lands notified have been developed and put to public use. The lands are being utilised to provide shelter to thousands and to implement the scheme of a planned city, which is a must in the present set-up. The outweighing public interest has to be given due weight. That is why this Court has been resis ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he damage suffered by him in consequence of such delay. Such damage is to be determined under Part III of the Act, as compensation payable under Section 48-A. In view of this section, while computing the quantum of compensation, what damage the owner of the land has suffered due to delay in completion of the acquisition proceeding, has also to be calculated. Unfortunately, no such amendment was introduced in the principal Act and even when several amendments were introduced by the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Act, 1984, this aspect of the matter appears to have been overlooked. 19. The learned counsel, appearing for the respondents, while resisting the charge of unreasonable delay in completing the acquisition proceeding, stated that between the years 1959-65 more than 68 thousand acres of land had been notified under sub-section (1) of Section 4 of the Act. Thereafter, several thousand objections had been filed; even writ applications had been filed in Delhi High Court, questioning the validity of notifications under section 4 and declarations under Section 6 of the Act. In such petitions, the High Court had also passed interim orders. 20. On behalf of the petitioners, it wa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of six per cent, which has been later substituted to nine per cent by Act 68 of 1984, has to be paid from the time of taking possession until the compensation has been paid or deposited. This section has no relevance, in the context of the question involved in the present cases. 23. Section 28 of the Act is also applicable only in respect of the excess amount, which is determined by the Court after a reference under Section 18 of the Act. This Court had held in the case of Union of India v. Zora Singh13, that sub-section (1-A), which was introduced by Act 68 of 1984 in Section 13 (1992) 1 SCC 673 23, regarding payment of interest at the rate of 12 per cent per annum, over the market value of the land for the period commencing on and from the date of the publication of the notification under Section 4, sub-section (1), up to the date of the award of the Collector or up to the date of the taking of possession of the land whichever is earlier, was applicable to cases which were pending after the reference under Section 18 of the Act. But in the meantime the correctness of that judgment has been doubted in the case of K.S. Pariapooranan v. State of Kerala (1992) 1 SCC 684, and the m ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... , nonetheless, the exercise of power in the facts and circumstances of the cases by the respondents has to be held to be against the spirit of the provisions of the Act, tending towards arbitrariness. In such a situation this Court in exercise of power under Article 32 and the High Court under Article 226, could have quashed the proceedings. But, taking into consideration that in most of the cases, the Delhi Administration and Delhi Development Authority have taken possession of the lands and even developments have been made, it shall not be proper exercise of discretion on the part of this Court to quash the proceedings because, in that event, it shall affect the public interest. Moreover, third party interests created in the meantime are also likely to be affected and such third parties are not impleaded. The relief of quashing the acquisition proceeding having become inappropriate due to the subsequent events, the grant of a modified relief, considered appropriate in the circumstances, would be the proper course to adopt. The High Court or this Court, can grant a modified relief taking into consideration the injury caused to the claimants by the inaction on the part of responden ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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