Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 – Relevant date for determining the market value for the land sought be acquired – Proviso to Section 26(1) – Legislative scheme and legislative intent:
Held: The use of the word “shall” in Section 26(1) proviso is reflective of the legislative mandate that Section 11 Notification is the date for determination of the compensation – The legislative intent is to ensure that the land owners receive fair compensation reflective of the market value prevailing at the time of acquisition. [Para 9] “Legislative intent is to ensure that the land owners receive fair compensation reflective of the market value prevailing at the time of acquisition by fixing the date of 01st January, 2014 as the date for determination of market value, the impugned order deprives the Appellant of compensation at the 2023 rates, which must be considerably higher. [Para 10]
RFCTLARR Act, 2013 – Whether the High Court was right in holding that the date for determination of market value is the date of commencement of the RFCTLARR Act, 2013: Held: The legislative scheme does not give discretion to the Courts to select a date for valuation – RFCTLARR Act, 2013 expressly mandates that compensation/valuation must be determined as of the date of Notification under Section 11 of the RFCTLARR Act, 2013 – The date of enactment of RFCTLARR Act, 2013 i.e. 01st January, 2014 has no relevance to fresh acquisition initiated under the statute, it is only relevant for land acquisition proceedings had been initiated under the old Land Acquisition Act, 1894 and where no award had been made before the enforcement of the RFCTLARR Act, 2013. [Paras 11-12]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Headnotes prepared by: Swathi H. Prasad, Hony. Associate Editor (Verified by: Kanu Agrawal, Adv.). Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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