HC pardons 40-year delay, grants compensation for land acquired by MSEB in 1984

The Bombay High Court has recognized the right to compensation for a Thane-based family whose land was acquired by the Maharashtra State Electricity Board in 1984. Despite the family's 40-year delay in approaching the court, the court ruled that the time frame stipulated in the limitation law does not apply to cases involving constitutional rights. The court directed the district collector to calculate the compensation owed to the family under the Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, within three months.

Mumbai: Despite a Thane-based family’s nearly 40-year delay in approaching the court, the Bombay high court recently recognised their right to compensation after the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) acquired their land in 1984 for the purpose of building an electricity substation.

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The court emphasised that the time frame stipulated in the limitation law couldn’t be applied in cases involving constitutional rights and as a result, it directed the district collector, Thane, to calculate the compensation owed to the petitioners under the Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, within three months from the date of the order.

The award should be communicated to the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL), the successor of MSEB, with payment due within a month from the date of communication.

A bench comprising justice Somasekhar Sundaresan and justice BP Colabawalla heard the writ petition of the Bhadani family from Thane. The family’s 6,689 sq m land in Panchpakhadi, Thane, was acquired by the MSEB without following the Land Acquisition Act, 1894’s due process.

The property currently hosts a 22/11 KV substation and MSEDCL staff quarters.

The Bhadani family, contended that they recently discovered that their family-owned property was under MSEDCL’s possession while surveying to demarcate their properties.

They believed the land belonged to another family member based on an arrangement. Upon learning about this development, they used Right to Information (RTI) to seek information from MSEDCL about the land’s ownership. MSEDCL provided documents indicating the land’s acquisition in 1984 but lacked evidence of due process during the acquisition, prompting the present petition for proper compensation under the Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.

However, MSEDCL argued that the petition was significantly delayed, almost 40 years after taking over the land in 1984 and nearly 28 years after constructing the substation. They asserted that since the land was acquired under the Electricity Act, there was no obligation to compensate as per land acquisition laws.

They also contended that at most, the individual transferring land for a substation could only receive an annual lease rental of one rupee.

The court, acknowledging the petitioners’ constitutional right to property, stated that such petitions couldn’t be dismissed solely due to delays.

According to it, “The state cannot, on the ground of delay and laches, evade its responsibility towards those from whom private property has been expropriated.”

The court also highlighted that electricity laws pertained to the installation of electrical apparatus, not land acquisition; hence, they couldn’t override all land acquisition laws in the country. Since the land acquisition lacked due process, the petitioners were entitled to compensation as per land acquisition laws, the court concluded.