Freezing order criminal registration target specific land owners leaves others untainted

The registration of criminal cases and freezing of bank accounts against select land owners and officials does not impact the legal status of untainted land owners. Criminal proceedings initiated for unjust enrichment and colorable exercise of power are personal to the accused land owners and revenue officers involved. Non-party land owners who were not arrayed as accused in criminal proceedings or subjected to account freezing orders retain clean legal status. Executive authorities cannot presume that criminal allegations against a small group of land owners pollute the entirety of acquisition proceedings across multiple villages. The absence of criminal proceedings or inquiry findings against a land owner conclusively establishes the untainted character of their statutory compensation award. Statutory bodies must treat untainted land owners as fully eligible for award disbursement despite ongoing criminal prosecutions against corrupt co-landowners. Thus, penal proceedings targeting collusive actors cannot be used as an executive pretext to deny statutory benefits to innocent land holders. (Niraj Jain v. Competent Authority-cum-Additional Collector, Jagdalpur & Ors. | 2026 INSC 86)