NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has fined the Chhattisgarh government Rs 2 lakh for dragging landowners back to court over compensation they were rightfully owed and for occupying their land for nearly four decades without ever paying for it.What was the issueThe Public Works Department (PWD) of the Chhattisgarh government had taken possession of a person’s land in 1986 and constructed a road on it.The encroachment came to light during demarcation proceedings, following which the landowners filed a suit in 2006 seeking eviction of the PWD from their land. Following this, the state initiated acquisition proceedings in 2010 — nearly 24 years after taking possession — with a notification issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 on August 13, 2010.The Land Acquisition Officer passed the final award in June 2011, valuing the land at Rs 4,308 per square metre based on 2009-10 guideline rates. The landowners challenged this, and the reference court revised the rate upward to Rs 5,380 per square metre, applying the 2010-11 guideline rates that had come into force before the final award was passed.Both sides appealed the matter before the Chhattisgarh high court.The high court not only upheld the higher compensation rate but also ordered the state to pay interest from the day the landowners first went to court in 2006 — at 9 per cent for the first year and 15 per cent every year after that until the full amount was paid.Unhappy with this, the state approached the Supreme Court challenging the interest awarded by the high court.What the Supreme Court saidA bench comprising Justice Sandeep Mehta and Justice Vijay Bishnoi dismissed the state’s plea and upheld the high court’s order.The court firmly rejected the state’s argument that the landowners were not entitled to interest, as the government had illegally occupied private land without offering any compensation.“As the State had unauthorisedly taken over the possession of the respondents’ land and used the same for a prolonged period, and further, as no offer of compensation was made even after the institution of the eviction suit by the respondents in the year 2006, it was wholly justified for thehigh court to have awarded interest on the compensation amount from the date of filing of the suit,” the bench said.The court also upheld the revised land rate of Rs 5,380 per square metre and noted that the high court’s verdict was “well-reasoned.”“The present special leave petition is nothing but an attempt by the petitioner-State of Chhattisgarh to cause further harassment to the respondents by assailing the concurrent findings recorded by the courts below,” the bench further said.Finding the petition “absolutely frivolous,” the court imposed a cost of Rs 2 lakh on the state government, directing it to pay the amount to the landowners within eight weeks.
