Summary
Land in Attapur village, Hyderabad was acquired in 1981 to extend the Nehru Zoological Park. No award was made until 1997, after the owners went to the High Court, and it fixed Rs 6 per sq. yard. The Reference Court raised compensation to Rs 250 on a 1981 sale deed from adjoining Bahadurpur and decrees for nearby land. A mediated compromise at Rs 350 was recalled because the officer who signed it lacked his superiors' permission. The High Court then cut the rate to Rs 100 by reverse calculation. The Supreme Court restored Rs 250, noting the unrebutted evidence and the department's own admission that the land lay in a prominent, developed area. It refused any deduction for development, since the city had developed during the four decades the owners went uncompensated.
Issues
- Whether the High Court was justified in reducing the market value of land acquired in 1981 from Rs 250 to Rs 100 per sq. yard.
- Whether a deduction for development charges was warranted.
Provisions considered
- Sections 18 and 23, Land Acquisition Act, 1894Market value fixed by the Reference Court on an adjacent-village sale deed and decrees for contemporaneous acquisitions, with solatium, additional market value and interest, was restored as supported by unrebutted evidence. (¶¶ 3, 11, 13, 15)
Held
- In the absence of any rebutting material, the Reference Court rightly relied on the 1981 sale deed of adjoining Bahadurpur at Rs 200 per sq. yard and decrees fixing Rs 250 for nearby land acquired at the same time, supported by the Revenue officer's 1991 letter and the departmental witness's admission that the land was in a prominent, developed area. (¶ 13)
- The High Court erred in reducing the rate to Rs 100 per sq. yard by reverse calculation without cogent material, particularly when the State's recall of the compromise rested only on lack of superior officers' permission and not on the rate being excessive. (¶¶ 11, 13)
- Following Reddy Veerana, no development deduction is due where land acquired 40 years ago lies in a city that has since developed and the owners went uncompensated for decades. (¶ 14)
Result
The landowners' Civil Appeal Nos. 8727-8728 and connected appeals allowed and the Revenue's appeals dismissed; the High Court judgments dated 24.11.2017 and 19.12.2017 set aside, the Reference Court's award at Rs 250 per sq. yard restored, and compensation to be paid within two months; parties to bear their own costs.