In Brief
Delhi Development Authority challenged a High Court judgment that declared land acquisition proceedings had lapsed under Section 24(2) of the RFCTLARR Act, 2013. The DDA argued that although possession was not taken, this was due to a court-granted stay against dispossession during litigation. The Supreme Court held that where an acquiring body cannot take possession because of a court stay obtained by the land owner, the land owner cannot later claim lapse of the proceedings. The Court applied the Constitution Bench decision in Indore Development Authority v. Manoharlal, which requires exclusion of stay periods from the five-year computation and prohibits land owners from benefiting from their own litigation tactics. The appeal was allowed and the High Court order was set aside.
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