Temporary land acquisition cannot last for 20 years; violative of right to property under Article 300A: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court last week held that land owners can question temporary land acquisition process if it has been pending for a long period [Manubhai Sendabhai Bharwad and anr vs Oil & Natural Gas Corporation and ors]..A bench of Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar said that such temporary acquisition cannot go on for 20 or 25 years since the value of the land would also have increased manifold since. "If the land is continued to be under temporary acquisition for number of years, meaning and purpose of temporary acquisition would lose its significance. Temporary acquisition cannot be continued for approximately 20 to 25 years. It cannot be disputed that once the land is under temporary acquisition and the same is being used by the ONGC for oil exploration, it may not be possible for the landowners to use the land; to cultivate the same and/or to deal with the same in any manner," the Court said.The bench stated that such acquisition would be arbitrary and violative of the right to property as guaranteed under Article 300A of the Constitution. "Even to continue with the temporary acquisition for a longer period can be said to be unreasonable, infringing the rights of the landowners to deal with and/or use the land," the Court said. .The top court was hearing an appeal against an April 2022 Gujarat High Court judgment that had refused to quash the acquisition proceedings going on since 1996, while the petitioners had purchased land through a registered sale deed in 2005. The respondent, the Oil & Natural Gas Corporation had in response to the first round of litigation said it was considering acquiring the land permanently. Subsequently, it found that the same would be too expensive under the 2013 Land Acquisition Act and so reneged on its stance. This had prompted the landowners to again move the High Court, since the acquisition was put on hold and they were being paid a paltry ₹24 per square metre per month as rent for property on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. The High Court had disposed of the plea by enhancing the compensation to ₹30 per square metre, even as the Ahmedabad Metro Rail Corporation was paying upto ₹1000 per square metre. However, the High Court has granted time to the ONGC and the State to acquire the land in question permanently within twelve months. .Counsel for the appellants, Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, submitted before the top court that the area in question is now a part of the city area and fully-developed area. Therefore, the current rent being offered was absolutely unreasonable, arbitrary and violative of Article 300A. Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit Banerjee, appearing for the respondents, stated that the landowners have been continuously paid rents which have revised periodically. .The bench at the outset noted that 26 years have passed, yet the the land in question continued to be still under temporary acquisition by the ONGC.However, given the directions issued by the High Court, the judges observed that any non-compliance already had consequences to follow. Therefore, the respondent-ONGC was directed to act as per the High Court judgment and complete the acquisition within the stipulated period. On the low rent being offered, the top court said that a remedy was available under Section 34 of the 1894 Land Acquisition Act. " ... if the appellants are aggrieved by the amount of compensation/annual rent, it will always be open to the appellants/landowners to approach the Collector and the Collector shall refer such reference to the decision of the Court.".[Read Judgment]