Supreme Court on Thursday employed its exclusive powers under Article 142 of Constitution to rule that landowners are entitled to current market value of their plots if payment of compensation for their land acquired by a government is delayed for a long time.
The order, which will bring relief and adequate recompense to many farmers and others across the country, was triggered by a petition against Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board, which in 2003 notified the acquisition of thousands of acres of land to construct the Bengaluru-Mysuru Infrastructure Corridor project.
While land parcels were taken over, no award for compensation to the owners was passed. It took contempt of court proceedings for the land acquisition officer to pass award for compensation in 2019. However, he based the compensation on rates prevalent in 2003.
Ruling that the value of land must be computed as of ’19, Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan said, “Right to property ceased to be a fundamental right by the Constitution (44th Amendment) Act, 1978. However, it continues to be a human right in a welfare state, and a constitutional right under Article 300A of the Constitution.”
Payout using ’03 land rate would be travesty of justice, says SC
Justice Gavai said the landowners have been deprived of their legitimate dues for almost 22 years and if the market value of the land is computed as of 2003, they would stand to lose considerably. “It is, therefore, of utmost importance that the determination of the award and disbursal of compensation in case of acquisition of land should be made with promptitude,” he said.
In 2019, the landowners protested when the then land acquisition officer based the compensation on rates prevalent in 2003, but lost their challenge before a single judge of Karnataka HC. They appealed the adverse order, but a division bench ruled against them.
Setting aside the concurrent judgments of the single judge and division bench of HC and holding Karnataka government and KIADB solely responsible for non-payment of compensation till now, the SC bench said, “We find that it is a fit case wherein this courtshould direct shifting of the date for determination of the market value of the land in question of the appellants.”
Gavai said, “If the compensation to be awarded at the market value as of the year 2003 is permitted, it would amount to permitting a travesty of justice and making the constitutional provisions under Article 300A a mockery.”
In the interest of justice, the bench ordered the land acquisition officer to compute the market value of the acquired land as on April 22, 2019. It permitted the land owners to challenge the award as per law, if they so wished.
