In Brief
The Supreme Court set aside a High Court order allowing a company to retain agricultural land under the West Bengal Estates Acquisition Act, 1953. A 1971 vesting order had divested the company of land after it failed to prove exclusive engagement in farming—a statutory requirement. Decades later, in 2008, a Revenue Officer purported to review and reverse the 1971 order based on a government directive and claimed amicable settlement. The Court held the Revenue Officer lacked jurisdiction to review a concluded vesting determination, as review power must be expressly conferred by statute. The company also failed to establish entitlement under the retention clause. The 1971 vesting order stands valid and final.
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