Property Law: Can the government acquire any private property for public interest? In answer to this question, the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court gave an important decision on Tuesday. The court said that all private properties cannot be declared as being of public interest. Therefore, the government cannot acquire these properties.
Property Law: Can the government acquire any private property for public interest? In answer to this question, the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court gave an important decision on Tuesday. The court said that all private properties cannot be declared as of public interest. Therefore, the government cannot acquire every property. However, it has the right to review in cases of public interest and in such a situation it can also acquire the land. The court also overturned the 1978 decision, which said that the state can acquire any private property for community interest.
Observing Article 39(b) of the Constitution, a 9-judge bench of the Supreme Court gave this decision. Out of the 9 judges, 7 decided by majority that not every private property can be acquired for community interest. Apart from Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice Rishikesh Roy, Justice JB Pardiwala, Justice Manoj Mishra, Justice Rajesh Bindal, Justice SC Sharma and Augustine George Masih were of the opinion that not every property can be acquired. At the same time, Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice BV Nagarathna, who were part of the bench, had a different opinion.
The Chief Justice, writing the majority judgment of seven judges, said that not all private properties are physical resources and hence cannot be taken over by the government. According to the majority judgment of the bench, not all resources owned by the private can be acquired by the government. The Supreme Court said that the government can, however, claim resources that are physical and belong to the community for the public good. The majority judgment said that the earlier judgment which said that the government can take over private properties was inspired by a particular economic and socialist ideology.
The court said – the 1978 decision was inspired by socialist ideology
The majority decision of the Supreme Court overruled the previous decision of Justice Krishna Iyer, which said that all privately owned resources can be acquired by the government. In this way, the apex court overturned the decisions after 1978, which adopted the socialist idea and said that the government can take over all private properties for the common good.
