Amanullah Khan vs The State of Haryana
Background
Between 1986 and 1995, the State of Haryana acquired land in village Ajronda, District Faridabad under three separate notifications for purposes including a green belt, institutional use, and commercial/residential development. The affected landowners were unhappy with the compensation fixed at various stages (by the Land Acquisition Collector, then enhanced by the Reference Court, then further revised by the Punjab and Haryana High Court), and a large group of them, including the appellant Amanullah Khan, filed appeals before the Supreme Court seeking higher compensation, pointing out that the Court had already fixed higher rates for other landowners whose land was acquired under the very same notifications.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court noted that in an earlier judgment (Balwant Singh v. State of Haryana, 2019), it had already determined compensation rates for land acquired under these same three notifications affecting the same village: Rs. 435, Rs. 860 and Rs. 1,210 per square yard respectively for the three notifications. Applying the principle that similarly situated landowners whose land was acquired under the same notification are entitled to parity in compensation, the Court held that the present appellants were also entitled to these same enhanced rates. All the connected appeals were partly allowed and compensation was fixed accordingly, though the Court denied the appellants interest/statutory benefits for the period between the High Court's judgment and the filing of their appeals, since their appeals had been delayed and the delay was condoned on that condition.
Lesson Learnt
When the government acquires land under a single notification affecting many landowners, all of them are entitled to the same rate of compensation that the courts eventually fix for any one of them, but landowners who delay in pursuing their own claims may still lose out on interest for the period of delay, even if they ultimately win parity in the compensation rate.