A bench of Justice MR Shah and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah gave this decision while accepting the appeal of the DDA

New Delhi: In an important decision, the Supreme Court said that only the original owner of the land has the right to challenge the land acquisition. The court has also made it clear that the person who has purchased the land later has no right to challenge the acquisition of the land.

A bench of Justice MR Shah and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah gave this decision while accepting the appeal of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA). Referring to the judgment in the case of Shiv Kumar (supra) and Godfrey Phillips (I) Ltd. (supra), the bench held that the latter has no right to demand that the acquisition process be declared terminated. The bench said that under the law only the original owner of the land has the right to challenge the acquisition.

The Apex Court has set aside the decision of the Delhi High Court, under which it was considered to terminate the acquisition process on the plea of the subsequent purchaser of the land.

The Supreme Court said that while perusing the judgment of the High Court, it appears to have ignored the facts presented by the Land Acquisition Officer that the possession of the disputed land was taken only on July 12, 2004.

The bench noted that the High Court has ruled that the D.D.A. also ignored the arguments of the petitioners that since the petitioners were subsequent purchasers of the land, they had no legal right to challenge the acquisition or to declare that the acquisition process was over. The Supreme Court held that keeping in view the legal provisions and the facts, the judgment passed by the High Court cannot be legally sustained, setting it aside.