I-74 13.08.2026 Court No. 652 Sayan WPA 8576 of 2007 Ram Kripal Sukla & Ors. Vs. State of West Bengal and Ors. Mr. Kamalesh Bhattacharya Mr. Aninda Bhattacharya … For the Petitioners. Mr. Siddhartha Sankar Roy … For the State. 1. The solitary legal question involved in the instant writ petition is whether due to operation of provision under section 24(2) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, the Award in L.A. Case No. 27 of 1969-70, dated 21st October, 1975, in favour of the petitioners, shall be deemed to have lapsed and a proceeding of land acquisition should be initiated by the respondent authority, afresh in accordance with the provisions under the 2013 Act. 2. Therefore, the Court intends to look into the statutory provision as above at the very outset, which is as follows: “24(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), in case of land acquisition proceedings initiated under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, where an award under the said section 11 has been made five years or more prior to the commencement of this Act but the physical possession of the land has not been taken or the compensation has not been paid the said proceedings shall be 2 deemed to have lapsed and the appropriate Government, if it so chooses, shall initiate the proceedings of such land acquisition afresh in accordance with the provisions of this Act: Provided that where an award has been made and compensation in respect of a majority of land holdings has not been deposited in the account of the beneficiaries, then, all beneficiaries specified in the notification for acquisition under section 4 of the said Land Acquisition Act, shall be entitled to compensation in accordance with the provisions of this Act.” 3. Mr. Bhattacharya has represented the petitioners. He submits that the instant writ petition relates to the subject matter of non grant of awarded compensation for acquisition of land of the petitioners. He indicates that the petitioners prayed for in the instant writ petition, inter alia, for a direction upon the Land Acquisition Collector, District Burdwan to send the reference petition of the petitioners in connection with Land Acquisition Case No.27 of 1969–70 to the District Judge, Burdwan for adjudication and disbursement of payment of compensation of awardees/writ petitioners. 4. It is submitted further that before this writ petition could be taken up for final adjudication by this Court, the law changed and the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act of 2013”) came into force with effect from January 1, 2014. 5. Mr. Bhattacharya, learned counsel for the petitioners, has referred to Section 24(2) of the Act of 3 2013, in particular to submit that pursuant to promulgation of the Act of 2013 and that coming into force, in view of the factual background of the instant case where award has never been implemented by disbursing compensation to the awardees including the petitioners, collector has to commence a fresh land acquisition proceeding in accordance with the provisions of 2013 Statue and passed a fresh award. He submits that the award dated October 21, 1975 passed earlier under the provisions of Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (1 of 1894) shall have no manner of application in the particular facts of circumstances of the instant case after promulgation of 2013 enactment. 6. None appears for the respondent, in spite of due and completed service. Affidavit of Service submitted in Court is taken on record. 7. The land acquisition case No. L.A. Case No. 27 of 1969-70 was initiated to assess land acquisition compensation of the petitioners, in the year 1966 and culminated into passing of an Award dated 21st October, 1975. Admittedly since thereafter, till the present day, the petitioners have not been paid any compensation. 8. According to the provision under section 24(2) of the Act of 2013, there has been provided two criteria, on fulfilment of either of which, the previous land acquisition proceeding, which has resulted into an Award as per section 11 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, passed more 4 than five years ago from the date of coming into force of the Act of 2013, shall stand as lapsed. In that case, the statute has provided for initiation of fresh land acquisition proceeding under the 2013 Act, by the authorities. The said two criteria are that when physical possession of land has not been taken over (which is, however, not the case of the present petitioners) or when no compensation has been paid. The writ petitioners fall under the subsequent category. 9. Accordingly, this Court finds that due to operation of section 24(2) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 and by virtue thereof, the Award earlier passed on 21st October 1975, in L.A. Case No. 27 of 1969-70, is lapsed as no compensation has been paid to the writ petitioners/land losers, in terms of the said Award which has been made more than 5 years before coming into force of the said Act of 2013. 10. Hence, the instant writ petition is disposed of with the directions as follows: (i) Award dated 21st October 1975 in L.A. Case No. 27 of 1969-70 stands as lapsed; (ii) The appropriate respondent shall initiate land acquisition proceeding afresh, under provisions of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 5 2013, within a period of 12 weeks from the date of communication of copy of this order; 11. Writ petition No. WPA 8576 of 2007 is disposed of. 12. Urgent certified copy of this order, if applied for, be supplied to the parties upon compliance with all requisite formalities. (Rai Chattopadhyay, J.)