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Errant states to face music for delayed relief to land oustees

The consequence for <g data-gr-id="31">delay</g> in awarding compensation in land acquisition by the governments has to be borne by the “errant state” and not the “innocent land owners”, the Supreme Court on Friday said.

Terming the delay in paying compensation as an act of “carelessness and callousness” by the state, a bench of justices Vikramjit Sen and Abhay Manohar Sapre set aside the land acquired in Bihar’s Khagaria district way back in 1987 for construction of government quarters by invoking urgency clause of the Land Acquisition Act.

“While we presently refrain from passing any orders or direction pertaining to or interfering with the possession of the Government over the subject land, the acquisition dated November 18, <g data-gr-id="19">1987</g> is set aside for non-compliance with the provisions of Section 11A of the L.A. Act.

“As all the subsequent Notifications by the Respondent State having lapsed, the Respondent State is directed to issue a fresh Section 4 Notification within six weeks from Friday.

The Respondent State is restrained from contending that the land is no longer required by it or that it should revert to the Appellants. The Appeal is allowed in these terms,” the bench said.

Referring to the state of affairs, it <g data-gr-id="24">said</g> “even equity demands that the party bearing the consequence of the delay in the award ought not to be the innocent landowner, but the errant State.” 

SC orders trial of crew members of US vessel under Arms Act
 35 crew members of a vessel owned by a US firm, arrested in 2013 for allegedly carrying a huge cache of weapons illegally onboard, will be prosecuted under the Arms Act, the Supreme Court has said. The apex court said this while setting aside an order of the Madras High Court which had quashed the charges under the provisions of the Arms Act, as alleged by the Tamil Nadu CID in its charge sheet. A bench of justices Vikramajit Sen and Abhay Manohar Sapre noted that the high court’s observations were “wholly unwarranted” and cannot be upheld. 
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