Supreme Court Decision: The country’s top court has given a big decision in the land acquisition case of farmers. The court said that the compensation and interest on land acquisition will be considered applicable from the day the land is acquired.
The country’s top court has given a big decision regarding the acquisition of farmers’ land. The Supreme Court said in a decision that the compensation and interest to the farmers whose land was acquired under the National Highway Authority (NHAI) Act will be applicable from the retrospective date. A decision related to this was given by the Supreme Court in 2019 and said that its 2019 decision allowing compensation would be implemented with retrospective effect.
A bench of Justice Suryakant and Justice Ujjal Bhuiyan gave this decision while dismissing a petition of the National Highways Authority of India. In its petition, the NHAI had demanded the implementation of the Supreme Court’s decision of September 19, 2019 in future. The authority had also demanded a ban on reopening those cases where the land acquisition proceedings had been completed and the compensation had been finalized.
What did the Supreme Court say?
In its decision, the bench said, ‘We do not find any merit in the arguments put forward by the applicant. We reaffirm the principles established in the 2019 Tarsem Singh case regarding the beneficial nature of ‘compensation’ and ‘interest’ and emphasize the need to avoid unjust classification lacking judicious distinction. Consequently, we deem it appropriate to dismiss the present application.’
The decision will not be applicable prospectively.
The court said that in the application, clarification has been sought that the decision in the Tarsem Singh case should be considered applicable only prospectively, but in our opinion, by giving such clarification, the relief given by the Tarsem Singh decision will be effectively ended. On applying this decision prospectively, the situation will become the same as it was before the decision.
Then the farmer will be deprived of compensation.
Giving an example, the bench said that if the 2019 decision is presented prospectively, then a landowner whose land was acquired on December 31, 2014, will be deprived of the benefits of compensation and interest. If a farmer’s land was acquired a day later on January 1, 2015, then he will be entitled to get statutory benefits. The bench clarified in its decision that the final outcome of its 2019 decision was limited only to giving compensation and interest to those aggrieved landowners whose land was acquired by NHAI between 1997 and 2015. It did not in any way direct to reopen the cases that had already been finalized.
Related Articles:-
- Bullet Train: Railways will run bullet train between these two cities! check route & more details
- How to Link Your Mobile Number to Your Post office Bank Account, step by step guide
- SGB Scheme Closed: Govt closed ‘Sovereign Gold Bond’ scheme, now which is the best scheme for investing in gold?
- ATM Withdrawal Charges: ATM cash withdrawals to become costly? RBI plans to raise interchange fee
- RBI publishes latest status of withdrawal of ₹2000 Denomination Banknotes
