There is no reason why a land owner who has lost his land, should not get the real market value for his land, said the apex court.
Taking a serious view of the plight of the land owners in Maharashtra who are deprived of their sole source of income and end up paying hefty court fee for seeking hike in their compensation under the Land Acquisition Act, the Supreme Court has asked the state to amend its law for the benefit of those who lose their land.
In Maharashtra and Gujarat a land loser has to pay ad-valorem court fee while seeking higher compensation. This compulsory levy is paid by a land owner as the Act does not require him to mention amount of compensation, but he voluntarily mentions a certain amount.
Subsequently, if the market value of the acquired land is found to be more than what was claimed, he gets the increased value.
“There is no reason why a land owner who has lost his land, should not get the real market value and should be restricted by technicalities to some provisional amount he had indicated’’, the apex court said. The court also said the collector who deals with the compensation issue “is expected to be fair and reasonable’’.
If an ignorant land loser seeks lesser compensation, it’s the duty of the collector to rectify the amount because the compensation must be based on the market value. Regretting that the collectors “unfortunately’’ offer an amount far less than the market value, the court said that denial drives the loser to litigation. If the compensation, offered by the collector is low, he cannot buy any alternative piece of land, judges noted.
By the time the owner fights and gets the full market value, most of the amount would have been spent in litigation and living expenses and the price of the piece of land would have appreciated, making it impossible to buy alternative piece of land, the court added. To impose any condition to the detriment of an ignorant land owner, would be unjust, the court ruled.
This judgment could have strong bearing on the pending compensation claims under the acquisition law. It has come in an appeal filed by the dependents of one Ambya Kalya Mhatre, from whom the government had acquired over 17,360 sqm of land in July 1970. Dissatisfied with the compensation offered, they contested the state’s offer for which they had to pay the ad valorem fee. The matter reached Bombay high court and in 2003, the HC refused to increase the compensation. Strangely, the apex court has referred the issue back to the high court.
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