In Brief
Landowners challenged land acquisition proceedings initiated by Haryana. The High Court rejected their pleas. However, in 2013, Parliament enacted a new Land Acquisition Act requiring compensation fairness and resettlement guarantees. This Act provided that land acquisitions lapse if five years pass without dispossession and proper payment. The Supreme Court found no stay was operating when the new Act came into force on 1 January 2014, no compensation had been paid, and more than five years had elapsed. The Court declared the acquisition proceedings lapsed and allowed the appeals, without remitting to the High Court, as lapse was automatic and based on admitted facts."
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