The Gujarat High Court has declared that land acquisition proceedings initiated nearly four decades ago have lapsed after the State failed to pass an award under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, holding that the authorities could not lawfully take possession of the land without first determining compensation, the Court restored ownership and possession of the land to the petitioners.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice D.N. Ray passed the order while hearing a Special Civil Application concerning agricultural land situated at Village Rudel, Taluka Borsad, District Anand (formerly Kheda).

The Court examined the original acquisition records produced by the State and found that although notifications under Sections 4 and 6 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 had been issued for acquiring three survey numbers for the public purpose of constructing houses for homeless persons under a Government of India scheme, the acquisition process was never completed in respect of one of the survey numbers.

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The Court noted that while an award dated September 29, 1986 had been passed for Survey Nos. 510 and 512, no award had ever been declared for Survey No. 511, despite the acquisition proceedings having been initiated decades earlier. During the hearing, the State Government candidly admitted that no award determining compensation for the disputed land had been passed till date.

The State sought to justify its position by relying upon a panchnama dated March 4, 1999, claiming that possession of the land had already been taken. However, the High Court rejected this contention, observing that under the scheme of the Land Acquisition Act, possession cannot ordinarily be taken before the declaration of an award under Section 11. The Bench explained that Section 16 permits the Collector to take possession only after the award has been made, unless the urgency provisions contained in Section 17(1) have been invoked. In the present case, the urgency clause had never been invoked by the authorities.

The Court further observed that the possession memo prepared in 1999 could not be treated as valid in law. It also recorded the petitioner’s contention that the alleged possession had not even been taken from the actual owner or lawful landholder. In these circumstances, the Bench held that the so-called paper possession deserved to be ignored altogether.

After considering the factual and legal position, the High Court concluded that the acquisition proceedings had remained incomplete for nearly 40 years because of the State’s failure to declare an award. Consequently, the entire acquisition proceedings concerning Survey No. 511, Block No. 699, measuring 15,459 square metres, stood lapsed under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.

The Bench further held that since the petitioners had continued in actual physical possession of the land and the alleged paper possession was found to be sham and without legal basis, the property would remain with the petitioners. It directed the authorities to correct the revenue and acquisition records accordingly so as to reflect the petitioners’ ownership and possession.

Allowing the writ petition, the Gujarat High Court ruled that the State’s failure to complete the mandatory statutory procedure by passing an award rendered the acquisition legally unsustainable. The Court therefore quashed the acquisition proceedings in respect of the disputed land and granted relief in favour of the petitioners, with no order as to costs.

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