Transition, Overriding Effect and Miscellaneous Provisions: Complete Notes (Part I)

Part I is the Act's boundary law: how pending 1894 acquisitions cross into the new regime (Section 24 and its Constitution Bench war), which statutes stay outside (Section 105's Fourth Schedule, bridged for money by the 2015 Order), and the closing architecture, coexistence, the one-way Schedules, the beneficial-State-law ratchet, rule-making, and the repeal with its savings. This consolidated note covers Topics 85 to 93 of this series.

1. The Transition: Section 24

The graduated bridge: no 1894 award made → the 2013 Act's compensation applies (24(1)(a)); award made → the 1894 Act completes the acquisition (24(1)(b)); award five years or more old at commencement, with possession not taken or compensation not paid → deemed lapse, fresh acquisition only under the new Act at today's values (24(2)); and where a majority of holdings' compensation was never deposited in the beneficiaries' accounts, all beneficiaries take 2013 compensation though the acquisition survives (the proviso). The war over 24(2): Pune Municipal Corporation (2014) held treasury deposit was not payment and lapsed acquisitions wholesale; Sree Balaji Nagar (2014) refused to exclude stay periods; Indore Development Authority v. Shailendra (2018) declared Pune Municipal per incuriam; and the Constitution Bench in Indore Development Authority v. Manoharlal (2020) settled the field: the conditions are conjunctive (lapse only where neither possession nor payment), tender is payment and treasury deposit suffices on refusal, the proviso is a distinct higher-compensation entitlement, stay periods are excluded, possession is taken by panchnama, Section 24 revives nothing, and Pune Municipal was overruled. Every case now turns on four documented dates: award, possession, payment, stays.

2. The Fourth Schedule and the Bridge

Section 105 keeps the Act off the thirteen Fourth Schedule enactments, the National Highways, Railways, Coal Bearing Areas, Electricity, Atomic Energy, Metro, pipelines, tramways, mines, requisitioning, DVC, ancient monuments and displaced-persons statutes, whose own procedures govern, with the Schedule amendable by notification (105(2)) and the section's own bridge (105(3) and (4)) directing extension of the Act's compensation and R&R standards to them. The bridge was built by the RFCTLARR (Removal of Difficulties) Order of 28 August 2015, issued under Section 113 after the 2014 Ordinance's direct route lapsed: Fourth Schedule acquisitions carry the First Schedule computation and the Second and Third Schedule R&R with effect from 1 January 2015, through each statute's own machinery. The pre-2015 gap was closed for highway oustees by Union of India v. Tarsem Singh (2019) on Article 14, solatium and interest for the earlier era too. The frame: procedure sectoral, money universal.

3. The Closing Architecture

Coexistence (Section 103): the Act is in addition to, not in derogation of, other laws: tribal land regulations, PESA, the FRA, environmental clearances and State land codes cumulate with the acquisition machinery; the clause never imports the Act into the Fourth Schedule track nor revives the repealed 1894 procedure.
The one-way Schedules (Section 106): the Schedules are amendable by notification, without in any way reducing compensation or diluting the compensation and R&R provisions, a ratchet that lets figures climb with inflation while making the floor notification-proof.
The federal ratchet (Sections 107 and 108): States remain free to legislate higher compensation and better R&R (generosity is never repugnancy), and where a State law or policy offers the better package, the affected family may opt for it, subtraction needs Article 254(2) and Presidential assent; addition needs nothing but the State's will.
Rule-making (Sections 109 to 113): Central rules laid before Parliament, State rules before the Legislature, filling every "as may be prescribed", the Section 46 limits, the Section 101 mechanics, the Authority's procedures; and the removal of difficulties power, capped at two years from commencement, now spent, whose one famous use was the 2015 Order itself.
Repeal and saving (Section 114): the 1894 Act is repealed, with the General Clauses Act Section 6 savings applying save as this Act otherwise provides, and Section 24 is the otherwise: completed acquisitions, vested title, accrued rights and pending old-Act proceedings continue under the old law; what Section 24 governs follows Section 24; and the repeal revives nothing.

4. The Part at a Glance

Provision	Function	The one-line rule
Section 24	Transition for 1894 pipelines	No award: new money; award: old completion; stale plus neither possession nor payment: lapse
Section 24(2) case law	The meaning war	Indore (2020): conjunctive, tender pays, stays excluded, panchnama possesses, Pune Municipal overruled
Section 105, Fourth Schedule	The exempted thirteen	Procedure sectoral; compensation and R&R aligned from 1 January 2015
The 2015 Order	The bridge's instrument	Section 113 order, 28 August 2015; Tarsem Singh cured the pre-2015 gap
Section 103	Coexistence	In addition, not in derogation: protections cumulate
Section 106	Schedule amendment	By notification, upward only
Sections 107 and 108	Federal enhancement	States may do better; the family may opt for better
Sections 109 to 113	Delegated machinery	Two rule-books, legislative laying, a two-year difficulties key
Section 114	Repeal and saving	1894 repealed; Section 6 saves; Section 24 overrides the saving where it speaks

⚠ Key point

Part I in one breath: Section 24 bridges the 1894 pipeline (new money, old completion, or lapse, on Indore's conjunctive, tender-pays, stay-excluding, panchnama terms); Section 105 exempts the thirteen sectoral statutes, with the 2015 Order carrying the Act's money and R&R to them from 1 January 2015 and Tarsem Singh reaching further back; and the closing sections fix the Act's character: cumulative with other laws, amendable only upward, improvable by any State with the family holding the option, administered through two laid rule-books, and closing on a repeal whose savings yield to Section 24.

5. The Topics of This Part

Topic 85: Section 24: the transition's structure
Topic 86: Section 24(2): Pune Municipal to Indore
Topic 87: Section 105 and the Fourth Schedule
Topic 88: The Removal of Difficulties Order, 2015
Topic 89: Provisions in addition: Section 103
Topic 90: Amending the Schedules: Section 106
Topic 91: Beneficial State laws and the option: Sections 107 and 108
Topic 92: Rule-making and difficulties: Sections 109 to 113
Topic 93: Repeal and saving: Section 114