In Brief
The Goa Foundation challenged the constitutional validity of the Land Acquisition (Goa Amendment) Act, 2009, which retrospectively deleted Clause 4(viii) of a statutory agreement prohibiting hotel construction on acquired land. This deletion followed the Supreme Court's 2009 decision declaring such construction illegal. The Court upheld the amendment, holding that while legislation cannot directly overrule judgments, it may validly remove the legal basis underlying a judgment through retrospective amendment. Since Clause 4(viii) was the foundation of the earlier judgment, its deletion rendered that judgment's premise moot. The amendment was not repugnant to the principal Land Acquisition Act, 1894, and did not violate the Rule of Law. The writ petition was dismissed.
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