In Brief
Tamil Nadu enacted a validating Act in 2019 to revive three State land acquisition laws that had been declared void by the High Court as repugnant to the Union's 2013 Land Acquisition Act. The petitioners (landowners) challenged the 2019 Act, arguing that once laws are declared unconstitutional, they cannot be revived by amendment and that the legislature impermissibly overruled the High Court judgment. The Supreme Court held that a State legislature has constitutional power to enact retrospective validating legislation under Article 254(2) of the Constitution, provided it removes the defect identified by courts. The 2019 Act complied with Article 254(2) by obtaining Presidential assent after substantively amending the three Acts to incorporate compensation and resettlement provisions from the Union Act. The Court dismissed the writ petitions, finding the 2019 Act a legitimate legislative exercise.
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