Only state has power to de-notify acquired land: HC

The order came on a plea from a landowner, who was seeking release of his land notified for an acquisition.

The Punjab and Haryana high court has held that it is the state that has the power to de-notify the land acquired under Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.

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The high court bench of justice Daya Chaudhary said Section 101-A inserted by Haryana government in Central law is an enabling provision and gives discretion to the state government to de-notify the land acquired for the public purpose under Land Acquisition Act, 1894, if the purpose has become unviable or non-essential.

It is the discretionary power vested in the state which can be exercised in respect of the ‘entire acquired land’ and not just a parcel of land and thus an individual landowner does not have any right to seek de-notification of his individual parcel of land and the court cannot issue direction to exercise the discretion, the bench said.

“This provision has been interpreted for the first time.Individual land owners were approaching courts for release of their land which was resulting in undesired litigation. It will help in curbing that,” said, Ankur Mittal, additional advocate general, Haryana, who appeared in this case. The order came on a plea from a landowner, who was seeking release of his land notified for an acquisition.