In a significant ruling, the Supreme Court has declared that the government cannot take over every private property in the name of public interest. The Constitutional Bench, in a landmark decision on Tuesday, clarified that not all private properties can be deemed as public resources for acquisition by the government.
Addressing whether the government has the right to acquire any private property for public use, the Supreme Court ruled that while the state can claim certain properties for community benefit, it does not have unlimited authority to acquire all private assets. This decision overturns a 1978 ruling that allowed the state to acquire private properties broadly for public purposes.
A 9-judge Constitutional Bench, led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, concluded by a 7-2 majority that not all privately owned assets can be taken over by the government. Supporting the majority opinion were Justices Rishikesh Roy, JB Pardiwala, Manoj Mishra, Rajesh Bindal, SC Sharma, and Augustine George Masih, while Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and BV Nagarathna expressed dissenting opinions.
Chief Justice Chandrachud, authoring the majority opinion, stated that not every private property qualifies as a public resource and, therefore, is not subject to government acquisition. The judgment emphasized that the state’s right to acquire property should be limited to resources that are physical and owned by the community at large for the public good. The court observed that the previous 1978 ruling was driven by socialist ideology, which allowed broader state control over private assets for community welfare.
The Supreme Court’s decision explicitly overturns the 1978 ruling by Justice Krishna Iyer, which permitted the government to claim all privately owned resources for the community. The recent judgment thus redefines the limitations on government authority, indicating a shift from the socialist-influenced policies of the past to a more restricted view of state power over private property.
This ruling establishes that while the government can acquire certain resources for community benefit, private property rights are now more protected under the Supreme Court’s interpretation.
