Vesting under evacuee property law and provisional auction possession do not bar acquisition under the Land Acquisition Act.

Section 12 notification under the Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act, 1954 extinguishes the evacuee's right, title and interest and vests the property absolutely in the Central Government, so the land thereafter no longer retains the character of evacuee property for the exemption in a Section 4 acquisition notification. Land vested in the Central Government may still be acquired under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 where an auction purchaser has been put in provisional possession, because such possession creates an encumbrance or possessory right rather than full title. The stated result is that the acquisition proceedings were valid, while the separate Section 24(2) claim was left for the appropriate forum.

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Issues: (i) Whether land which had been acquired under Section 12 of the Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act, 1954 ceased to be evacuee property and therefore remained outside the exemption for evacuee land in the Section 4 notification under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894; (ii) whether land vested in the Central Government under the Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act, 1954 could still be acquired under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 when an auction purchaser had been put in provisional possession.

Issue (i): Whether land which had been acquired under Section 12 of the Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act, 1954 ceased to be evacuee property and therefore remained outside the exemption for evacuee land in the Section 4 notification under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.

Analysis: The statutory scheme showed that vesting under the Administration of Evacuee Property Act, 1950 in the Custodian was different from vesting under Section 12 of the Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act, 1954 in the Central Government. On publication of the Section 12 notification, the evacuee's right, title and interest stood extinguished and the property vested absolutely in the Central Government, thereafter forming part of the compensation pool under Section 14. Once that statutory transition occurred, the land no longer retained its character as evacuee property for the purpose of the exemption in the acquisition notification.

Conclusion: The land ceased to be evacuee property after the Section 12 notification and the evacuee-land exemption in the Section 4 notification did not apply.

Issue (ii): Whether land vested in the Central Government under the Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act, 1954 could still be acquired under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 when an auction purchaser had been put in provisional possession.

Analysis: Provisional possession to an auction purchaser created possessory rights and an encumbrance, though not full proprietary title. The relevant principle was that land burdened by private rights or encumbrances did not fall outside the Land Acquisition Act merely because ownership had vested in the State or the Central Government. Since the subject land carried such an encumbrance, it remained amenable to acquisition under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.

Conclusion: Yes. The land could validly be acquired under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 despite vesting in the Central Government.

Final Conclusion: The High Court's view was unsustainable, and the acquisition proceedings were held valid while the separate request under Section 24(2) of the 2013 Act was left to be pursued before the appropriate forum.

Ratio Decidendi: Property acquired under Section 12 of the Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act, 1954 ceases to be evacuee property, and land burdened by an auction purchaser's provisional possessory rights remains capable of acquisition under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.

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