KSLU Solved Question Papers
Land Law
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 10
2026 Jan Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 10 Land Law 2026 Jan Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 21 October 2026.
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The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by Karnataka State Law University at the 2026 Jan examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2026 Jan examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2026 Jan examination, reproduced as Karnataka State Law University set them, in the order it set them. Long reading passages are shortened to their first and last lines and our summary; the original paper prints them in full. Only the answers are ours. See the original question paper.
Duration 3 hours · Total marks 80 · 20 questions answered
How to use this volume
Solve the paper first, under exam conditions and against the clock. Then read the answers here and mark your own. Reading a solution before attempting the question feels productive and teaches very little, because recognising an answer is not the same as being able to write one.
Q1
Unit I
(a)Explain the provisions relating to the application of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: the Act and its commencement on 1 January 2014; section 2(1), acquisition by the Government for its own use and for public purpose, with the six heads of public purpose; section 2(2), public private partnership and private companies, with the 70 and 80 per cent consent rule; the bar on transfer in Scheduled Areas; section 2(3), rehabilitation duties on large private purchases; section 105 and the Fourth Schedule Acts; section 24 on old acquisitions; the Karnataka amendment of 2019; cases; conclusion.
The Act and why its application matters
The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 replaced the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. It came into force on 1 January 2014. Section 2 is titled "Application of Act". It decides when the new rules on acquisition, compensation, rehabilitation and resettlement must be followed.
The question matters because the 2013 Act is far more generous than the 1894 Act. It requires a social impact study and, in some cases, consent. It pays up to four times the market value in rural areas, and it adds a full rehabilitation package. A landowner who falls inside section 2 gets all of this. One who falls outside does not.
Acquisition for the Government's own use and for public purpose: section 2(1)
Section 2(1) applies the Act when the appropriate Government acquires land "for its own use, hold and control", including for Public Sector Undertakings, and for public purpose. Public purpose is defined in section 3(za) as the activities listed in section 2(1). They are:
- Strategic purposes: the armed forces, central paramilitary forces, work vital to national security or defence, State police and the safety of the people.
- Infrastructure projects: the items in the Union notification of 27 March 2012, but not private hospitals, private schools and colleges or private hotels. The head also covers agro-processing, warehousing and cold storage set up by the Government or a farmers' co-operative. It covers industrial corridors, mining and manufacturing zones, water harvesting and sanitation. It covers Government-run education and research, and sports, health care, tourism, transport and space programmes.
- Projects for project affected families.
- Housing for income groups specified by the Government.
- Planned development of village sites or urban sites, and land for houses for the weaker sections.
- Residential purposes for the poor, the landless, victims of natural calamities and persons displaced by Government schemes.
The list is closed. The Government cannot acquire land under the Act for a purpose outside it.
Acquisition for public private partnership and private companies: section 2(2)
Section 2(2) applies the Act when the Government acquires land for a public private partnership project or for a private company. In a partnership project, ownership of the land must stay with the Government. In both cases the purpose must still be a public purpose under section 2(1).
The Act adds a consent safeguard. For a private company, the prior consent of at least 80 per cent of the affected families is needed. For a public private partnership project, the figure is 70 per cent. The families counted are landowners and families who were assigned land by the Government. Consent is taken along with the social impact study under section 4.
A further proviso protects tribal land. No land shall be transferred by acquisition in the Scheduled Areas in breach of any land transfer law in force there.
Rehabilitation duties on private purchases: section 2(3)
Section 2(3) reaches beyond compulsory acquisition. The rehabilitation and resettlement provisions apply when a private company buys land above a limit prescribed by the Government through private negotiation. They also apply when a private company asks the Government to acquire part of the land it needs. In that case the Second Schedule entitlements apply to the whole project area, both the purchased part and the acquired part.
Where the Act does not apply, and where it applies in part
- Section 105 and the Fourth Schedule. The Act does not apply to acquisitions under the special Acts listed in the Fourth Schedule. The National Highways Act, 1956 is one of them. But section 105(3) told the Union to extend the beneficial compensation and rehabilitation provisions to them. The Removal of Difficulties Order, 2015 did so from 1 September 2015.
- Section 24, old acquisitions. Where proceedings began under the 1894 Act and no award was made, compensation is fixed under the 2013 Act. Where an award was made five years or more before 1 January 2014, but possession was not taken or compensation not paid, the proceedings lapse.
- State amendments. The Act is in the Concurrent List. States may amend it with the President's assent.
The Karnataka amendment of 2019
Karnataka amended the Act in its application to the State by Karnataka Act 16 of 2019. The amending Act received the President's assent on 16 July 2019. It changes the application of the Act in Karnataka in three main ways.
- It adds a proviso to section 2(2): acquisitions for projects notified under the new section 10-A are exempt from the consent requirement.
- Section 10-A lets the State exempt five classes of projects from Chapters II and III. Those Chapters hold the social impact study and the food security rule. The first class is defence projects. The second is infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, offices, electrification, irrigation and drinking water. The others are affordable housing, industrial corridors, and infrastructure projects where the land stays with the State.
- A new section 30-A allows the State to buy land by agreement with a willing owner, with a lump sum for other affected families.
How the courts read the application of the law
K.T. Plantation Pvt Ltd v. State of Karnataka, (2011) 9 SCC 1. Karnataka acquired the Tatgunni Estate of Svetoslav and Devika Rani Roerich by a special Act of 1996. A Constitution Bench held that public purpose is a pre-condition for depriving a person of property under Article 300A. It also held that the right to compensation is inbuilt in that Article. Section 2 of the 2013 Act turns this constitutional rule into a list. Land can be taken only for a listed purpose, and only with fair compensation.
Kedar Nath Yadav v. State of West Bengal, decided on 31 August 2016. The State acquired about 1,000 acres at Singur under the 1894 Act for the Tata Motors small car project. The Supreme Court quashed the acquisition. Gopala Gowda J held that the land was in truth acquired for a company and the procedure for company acquisitions was not followed. Both judges agreed that the objections under section 5-A were not properly heard. Land was ordered back to the cultivators within twelve weeks, and the compensation paid was not to be recovered. Singur explains why section 2(2) now demands consent for private companies.
Union of India v. Tarsem Singh, (2019) 9 SCC 304. Land taken under the National Highways Act, 1956 carried no solatium or interest, unlike land taken under the 1894 Act. The Supreme Court held this unequal treatment violates Article 14. It noted the Removal of Difficulties Order of 2015, which applies the 2013 Act's compensation schedules to Fourth Schedule acquisitions. The case shows that even where section 105 excludes the Act, its beneficial core applies.
Conclusion. Section 2 makes the 2013 Act apply to every acquisition by the appropriate Government for its own use or for a listed public purpose. It extends to public private partnership and private company projects, but only with the consent of 70 or 80 per cent of the affected families. Its rehabilitation duties reach large private purchases. The special Acts in the Fourth Schedule are outside it, but they carry its compensation and rehabilitation schedules since 1 September 2015. In Karnataka, the 2019 amendment lets the State exempt notified projects from consent, from the social impact study and from the food security rule.
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