SC: Give farmers market price for land acquired

The Supreme Court ruled that compensation given to farmers for acquiring their land should be decided on the basis of its market value.

The Supreme Court ruled that compensation given to farmers for acquiring their land should be decided on the basis of its market value.

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Allowing a bunch of petitions filed by various land-owners, a bench of Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice Deepak Verma increased the base price from R2.75 lakh per acre to R4.09 lakh per acre for land acquired by the Punjab government on the Ambala-Chandigarh highway. The bench said the owners were entitled to the highest value which similar land in the locality is shown to have fetched.

The land-owners had approached the SC seeking enhanced compensation. The SC fixed the price at a higher rate after taking into consideration various real estate deals at that point in time. The highest price fetched was R4.08 per hectare.

“After all, when land is being compulsorily taken away from a person he is entitled to say that he should be given the highest value which similar land in the locality is shown to have fetched in a bona fide transaction entered into between a willing purchaser and a willing seller near about the time of the acquisition,” the court said.

The Punjab government had in 1992 acquired 550.03 acres in Patiala for setting up industrial plant.

Dissatisfied with the compensation, the landowners had approached the lower court that fixed the price at Rs 1.50 lakh per acre. On an appeal before Punjab and Haryana High Court, the amount was enhanced to R2.75 lakh per acre.