Govt should strictly follow rules while acquiring lands:SC

A bench of Justices Markandeya Katju and Asok Kumar Ganguly quashed the acquistion proceedings launched by Mahrashtra government on the ground that the declaration proceedings as mandated under Section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act,1894,was not followed by the government.

Under Section 4 of the Act,the government has to first issue a “preliminary notification” informing the public about its proposal to acquire the public land in question.

Thereafter,under Section 6 of the Act,the government has to issue a separate “declaration” about its intent to acquire the land. But under Section 6,it is clearly stated that such a declaration must be mandatorily made within a year of the issuance of preliminary notification.

However,in this case,the Maharashtra government first issued the preliminary notification on August 29,2002,and thereafter the declaration under section 6 on October 30,2006,more than four years after the preliminary notification.

The aggrieved land holders challenged the declaration but the Bombay High Court rejected their plea following which they appealed in the apex court.