In Brief
In this land acquisition case, the Supreme Court held that compensation deposited in a revenue treasury does not constitute actual payment to landowners and therefore does not prevent the lapse of proceedings under Section 24(2) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. Since the acquisition award was passed in 1988 (more than five years before the 2013 Act came into force on 1 January 2014) and no actual compensation was paid to the appellants despite the treasury deposit, the proceedings lapsed. The Court granted the acquiring authority one year to exercise its statutory liberty to recommence proceedings under the 2013 Act.
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