In Brief
This judgment addresses whether landowners who obtained interim court orders preventing award declarations under the 1894 Land Acquisition Act can claim enhanced compensation under the 2013 Act when the award was never finalized by the 2013 Act's enforcement date (1 January 2014). The Supreme Court held that such litigants cannot benefit from interim orders they obtained. Applying principles of restitution and equity, the Court ruled that absent an explicit statutory exclusion, interim-order holders must receive compensation under the 1894 Act, not the 2013 Act, to prevent unjust enrichment and discrimination among landowners under the same acquisition notification.
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