New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday stayed an order passed by the Gauhati High Court’s Itanagar bench directing the Centre to make 50% payment of enhanced compensation of ₹418 crore to 102 people whose lands were acquired for defence projects in an Arunachal Pradesh village bordering China.
According to the Centre, the enhanced compensation ordered by a trial court was based on “forged, fabricated” power of attorney documents for the land belonging to 102 villagers, produced by a single individual.
The top court allowed a stay on the March 12 HC order on the condition that the Centre shall deposit 10% of the amount with the high court within four weeks. “There shall be stay of operation of the impugned order on the condition that the petitioner (Centre), as undertaken by them before the HC, shall deposit 10% of the enhanced amount with the registry of the high court at Itanagar bench within four weeks,” a bench of Justices KV Viswanathan and N Kotiswar Singh said.
A 500-acre land in Bame village was acquired by the Centre for strategic purposes by the Army in November 2023, for which the 102 villagers were paid compensation of over ₹70 crore. The villagers had signed a deed of acceptance on November 21, 2023, after which the money was paid and the final award notified.
Additional solicitor general (ASG) SD Sanjay, appearing for the Centre, told the court that the entire exercise was sought to be reopened by Dagli Riba, who claimed to have the power of attorney documents for the land belonging to 102 villagers.
{{/usCountry}}Additional solicitor general (ASG) SD Sanjay, appearing for the Centre, told the court that the entire exercise was sought to be reopened by Dagli Riba, who claimed to have the power of attorney documents for the land belonging to 102 villagers.
{{/usCountry}}Sanjay said that based on the unregistered document, the additional district and sessions judge court of Leparada district directed compensation of ₹418 crore, fixed over and above the amount of ₹70 crore already paid. “The whole reference is based on fraud. The Gauhati HC noted the fact that the power of attorney (PoA) documents contained no details of the land, identity of the persons executing the power of attorney, their identity documents, or their addresses. Even the signatures did not match with the ones presented by the landowners at the time of receiving the compensation,” Sanjay added.
The PoA was executed before a notary public. “This exposed forgery, as the notary could not have authenticated the signature of one among the 102 persons who had died in June 2023. His wife had received compensation in the earlier round from the Centre,” Sanjay said.
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The top court decided to examine the case and issued notice to the 102 landowners, posting the matter for hearing on August 18.
The order came as a big relief to the Centre, as the HC order directing 50% of the amount to be deposited came to nearly ₹210 crore. “We can deposit 10% of the enhanced amount, which may be kept by the high court in an interest-bearing account, provided the same should not be withdrawn by the landowners till the HC hears the challenge to the reference court’s order passed on October 19, 2024,” Sanjay said.
The Centre pointed out that compensation of over ₹12.86 lakh was fixed per acre following a joint survey by the Army and local authorities. The agreement for the land was accepted by the affected villagers in the presence of the village-level committee chairman, based on a written ‘willingness certificate’ submitted by them in March 2020. Even at the time when the final award was notified in November 2023, the villagers did not object. It was in December 2023 that the land came to be possessed by the Army. After the process ended, Riba submitted an application to the deputy commissioner on December 15, 2023, for revising the compensation on the strength of PoA over the land in question,” Sanjay said.