In Brief
Delhi Development Authority acquired land in Village Chhatarpur under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, via notifications dated 1980, with awards announced in 1987. The respondent land owners challenged the acquisition and obtained a stay of dispossession in 1999. They later claimed the proceedings had lapsed under Section 24(2) of the 2013 Act as five years had elapsed without possession being taken. The Supreme Court held that the period during which court-ordered stay was operative must be excluded from the five-year calculation under Section 24(2). The Court rejected the land owners' reliance on earlier judgments (Balbir Singh, Sudan Singh) which had been overruled by larger benches. The appeal was allowed and the High Court's order was set aside, dismissing the writ petition."
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