New Delhi, April 09: The Supreme Court has held that land owners cannot challenge acquistion proceedings belatedly as it amounts to abusing the process of law.
“When a person challenges Section 4 Notification (land acquisition) on any ground, it should be challenged within a reasonable period and if the acquisition is challenged at a belated stage, the petition deserves to be dismissed only on this count,” a bench of Justices J M Panchal and B S Chauhan said in an order.
The apex court made the remarks while dismissing the appeal of Swaran Lata and certain other land owners challenging Haryana government’s decision to acquire vast tracts of private land.
In this case, the state had acquired the private lands in 2004 after issuing the necessary notifications in May, 2001.
—Agencies