Offences and Penalties under the RFCTLARR Act: Complete Notes (Part H)

Sections 84 to 90 are the Act's criminal chapter: the lie and the default separately punished, companies and departments given human addresses with classical defences, and a prosecution architecture that is judicial, non-cognizable and complaint-driven, with the affected family itself holding the trigger against a defaulting Requiring Body. This consolidated note covers Topics 80 to 84 of this series.

1. The Two Offences

Deception (Section 84): providing false or misleading material information or false or forged documents in connection with the Act's requirements draws imprisonment up to six months, a fine up to one lakh rupees, or both; R&R benefits obtained by false or fraudulent claims are recovered by the appropriate Government; and a Government servant proved guilty of mala fide action faces disciplinary proceedings with punishment including fine as the disciplinary authority decides. The section protects the Act's declaration-driven stages, the SIA census, the Section 21 claims, the Section 22 statements, from claimant and official alike.
Default (Section 85): contravention of the provisions relating to payment of compensation or rehabilitation and resettlement is punishable with imprisonment of six months extending to three years, or fine, or both, the chapter's sternest offence, aimed at the Act's two deliverables: the paradigm accused is the Requiring Body enjoying possession while the award or the R&R package goes unperformed, with the proof documentary in the Act's own records.

2. The Institutional Formulas

Companies (Section 86): the company and every person in charge of and responsible for its business are deemed guilty, subject to the without-knowledge and all-due-diligence defences, with directors, managers, secretaries and officers also liable where consent, connivance or neglect is proved, the standard regulatory formula with its settled learning: the complaint must aver how the accused was in charge, designation alone ropes in no one.
Government departments (Section 87): the head of the department is deemed guilty on the same knowledge-and-diligence formula, other officers on proof of consent, connivance or neglect, the Act refusing the anonymity of "the department". The calibration is contested terrain: the lapsed 2014 to 2015 central amendments sought a Section 197 CrPC sanction gate, and Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra have substituted Section 87, with Haryana adding Section 87A, to that effect, so departmental liability now varies by State and the State's version is always the first check.

3. The Prosecution Architecture

Three rules complete the chapter (Sections 88 to 90): trial by the first-class magistracy standard, no inferior court trying the Act's offences; the offences are non-cognizable, so the process begins in a courtroom on a complaint, not in a police station on an FIR, acquisition disputes are kept out of cross-FIR warfare; and against a Requiring Body, cognizance requires a written complaint by the Collector, an officer authorised by the appropriate Government, or any member of the affected family, the chapter's democratic key: the family the default injures can itself set the criminal law in motion, without official sponsorship. The design balances under-enforcement against weaponisation: enforcement is possible without the administration's blessing, but only through a judicial, written, document-led channel.

4. The Chapter at a Glance

Provision	Content	Numbers to carry
Section 84	False or misleading information, forged documents; recovery of fraudulent R&R benefits; discipline for mala fide servants	6 months, 1 lakh, or both
Section 85	Contravention of the compensation and R&R provisions	6 months to 3 years, or fine, or both
Section 86	Companies: in-charge persons and the company deemed guilty; officer limb on consent, connivance, neglect	Knowledge and due-diligence defences
Section 87	Departments: head of department deemed guilty; officer limb; State variants adding Section 197 CrPC sanction	AP, Maharashtra substituted; Haryana 87A
Sections 88 to 90	First-class magistracy; non-cognizable; written complaint for Requiring Body offences	Complainants: Collector, authorised officer, any member of the affected family

The chapter is the fourth layer of the Act's enforcement design, behind the structural locks (declaration, possession, land use), the financial premiums (solatium, the 12% amount, interest) and the supervisory stack (audit, committees, monitoring). Its offences exist for what survives all three, deliberate falsehood, mala fides, contumacious default, and its procedure keeps the criminal law available to the affected without making it a weapon among them.

⚠ Key point

Part H in one line: the lie costs six months or a lakh (Section 84, with recovery and discipline); the default costs six months to three years (Section 85); companies answer through those in charge and departments through their heads, both with knowledge-and-diligence defences (Sections 86 and 87, with AP, Maharashtra and Haryana adding sanction gates); and prosecution is magistracy-tried, non-cognizable and written-complaint-driven, with any member of the affected family able to complain against a Requiring Body (Sections 88 to 90).

5. The Topics of This Part

Topic 80: Offences and penalties: overview
Topic 81: False information and mala fide action: Section 84
Topic 82: Penalty for contravention: Section 85
Topic 83: Offences by companies and departments: Sections 86 and 87
Topic 84: Cognizance and the prosecution architecture: Sections 88 to 90