Topic Of The Day:-“Compensation the key”
One of the provisions, which seeks to give meaning to this larger aim, is Section 24 of the LARR Act. This clause, among other things, concerns acquisitions made under the 1894 law, where compensation payable to a landowner from whom land had been taken prior to the year 2009 has already been determined. In such cases, the new law stipulates, the state ought to have not only taken possession of the land but also paid the amounts determined as due, failing which the entire proceedings will lapse. This means that even where the state has put the land acquired to some use, its failure to pay the holder compensation would render the entire proceeding nugatory.
Plainly read, Section 24 might seem rather innocuous. But, in January 2014, soon after the law came into force, the state sought to fashion a conservative interpretation of the clause, only for a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court to quickly nip such attempts in the bud. Pune Municipal Corporation v. Harakchand Misirimal Solanki was a case where awards had been made by the government prior to 2009. The state argued that each of the landowners from whom land was acquired had specifically been told about the quantum of money that they were entitled to receive. Since they neither disputed the amount fixed nor came forward to receive the money, the government claimed it deposited cash payable by it into its own treasury. According to it, this action was sufficient to negate the operation of Section 24. Or, put more simply, the landowners, the government said, were not entitled to retake their lands by claiming that they hadn’t received their compensation. The Supreme Court, however, thought otherwise.
Ordinarily, the court held, the state is always obligated to pay the landowner money in terms of any award made. It was only in exceptional circumstances, defined in Section 31 of the 1894 statute, that the government could deposit those amounts into a court of law. These included cases where a landowner might have refused to receive compensation, for some reason or the other. But even there, a mere payment into the government’s own treasury wouldn’t suffice. The law mandated deposit into court. Therefore, the proceedings in all these cases under the 1894 law, the bench ruled, had to be annulled, with lands being returned to their original owners.
High Courts across India almost uniformly adopted this verdict, reversing acquisitions in a host of cases. Indeed, in September 2016, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court in Delhi Development Authority v. Sukhbir Singh recognised the trend. The decision in Pune Municipal Corporation, it wrote, was “now stare decisis in that it has been followed in a large number of judgments.”
MEANINGS AND WORDS
1) Entrenched
Meaning: (Of an attitude, habit, or belief) firmly established and difficult or unlikely to change; ingrained.
Example:”An entrenched resistance to change”
2) Stare
Meaning: Look fixedly or vacantly at someone or something with one’s eyes wide open.
Example: “He stared at her in amazement”
Synonyms: Gaze, Gape
3) Decisis
Meaning: The legal principle of determining points in litigation according to precedent.
Example: “A doctrine of stare decisis”
4) Precedent
Meaning: An earlier event or action that is regarded as an example or guide to be considered in subsequent similar circumstances.
Example: “There are substantial precedents for using interactive media in training”
Synonyms: Model, Exemplar
5) Maelstrom
Meaning: A situation or state of confused movement or violent turmoil.
Example: “The train station was a maelstrom of crowds”
Synonyms: Turbulence, Tumult
6) Contretemps
Meaning: A minor dispute or disagreement.
Example: “She had occasional contretemps with her staff”
Synonyms: Argument, Quarrel
7) Enormous
Meaning: Very large in size, quantity, or extent.
Example: “Enormous sums of money”
Synonyms: Huge, Vast
Antonyms: Tiny
8) Stake
Example: Mark an area with stakes so as to claim ownership of it.
Meaning: “The boundary between the two manors was properly staked out”
Synonyms: Mark off, Mark out
9) Emanates
Example: Give out or emit (a feeling, quality, or sensation).
Meaning: “He emanated a powerful brooding air”
Synonyms: Exude, Give off
10) Strikingly
Meaning: In a way that attracts attention by reason of being unusual, extreme, or prominent.
Example: “The stories strikingly illustrate the creative power of the imagination”
11) Draconian
Meaning: (Of laws or their application) excessively harsh and severe.
Example: “The Nazis destroyed the independence of the press by a series of draconian laws”
Synonyms: Harsh, Severe
Antonyms: Mild
12) Mercy
Meaning: Compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.
Example: “The boy was screaming and begging for mercy”
Synonyms: Leniency, Lenience
Antonyms: Ruthlessness, Cruelty
13) Accorded
Meaning: Give or grant someone (power, status, or recognition).
Example:”The powers accorded to the head of state”
Synonyms: Give, Grant
Antonyms: Withhold, Remove
14) Expropriate
Meaning: (Of the state or an authority) take (property) from its owner for public use or benefit.
Example: “Their assets were expropriated by the government”
synonyms: Seize, Take away
15) Scant
Meaning: Barely sufficient or adequate.
Example:”Companies with scant regard for the safety of future generations”
Synonyms: Little, Minimal
Antonyms: Abundant, Ample, Sufficient
16) Derisory
Meaning: Ridiculously small or inadequate.
Example: “They were given a derisory pay rise”
Synonyms: Inadequate, Insufficient
17) Grasped
Meaning: Take (an opportunity) eagerly.
Example: “Many companies grasped the opportunity to expand”
Synonyms: Take advantage of, Act on
Antonyms: Miss, Overlook
18) Exchequer
Meaning: A royal or national treasury.
Example: “An important source of revenue to the sultan’s exchequer”
19) Flawed
Meaning: Having or characterized by a fundamental weakness or imperfection.
Example: “A fatally flawed strategy”
Synonyms: Unsound, Defective
Antonyms: Sound
20) Manifestly
Meaning: In a way that is clear or obvious to the eye or mind.
Example: “We have manifestly failed to exercise good judgment”