In Brief
In this split judgment, the Supreme Court examined a case where an Urban Improvement Trust in Bikaner acquired land without serving notice on actual owners who had purchased it in 1970. Two judges disagreed: Justice Manoj Misra allowed the Trust's appeal, holding that serving notice on recorded owners was sufficient and that the plaintiff's suit for injunction without seeking declaration and without impleading the State was unmaintainable. Justice Hrishikesh Roy dismissed the appeal, holding that violation of fundamental procedural safeguards in land acquisition (no notice to actual owners, no compensation) voids the acquisition ab initio. He found the suit maintainable in civil court to protect constitutional property rights under Article 300A. The Court referred the matter to the Chief Justice for a larger Bench to resolve the disagreement.
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