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K. Devakimma & Ors. v. Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams & Anr.

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 5768 of 2006)Decided 23 Apr 2015
Civil Appeal No. 5768 of 2006
Justice Vikramajit Sen · Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre

Background

The appellants were small shopkeepers whose land near the Tirumala Tirupati temple was acquired by the State in the 1980s for development of the temple town, at a government-fixed rate of Rs.11 per square foot. A Reference Court later enhanced this to between Rs.80-100 per square foot, but on appeal by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD, the body benefiting from the acquisition), the Andhra Pradesh High Court cut the rate down to just Rs.30 per square foot. The landowners then appealed to the Supreme Court seeking restoration of the higher compensation.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held the High Court was wrong to discard the Reference Court's method, which had used proven sale/award rates for nearby land in earlier years and applied a reasonable yearly escalation to arrive at current value: a recognized and lawful valuation technique, especially where (as here) a statutory ban on private land sales in Tirumala meant no direct sale deeds were available as evidence. The Court also noted TTD's counsel had earlier not objected to a rate of around Rs.90 per square foot before the Reference Court. It set aside the High Court's reduction, restored the Reference Court's award with one modification, fixing a single uniform rate of Rs.90 per square foot for all the appellants instead of varying rates, and directed TTD to pay the compensation within three months.

Lesson Learnt

When direct sale evidence for a highly restricted or non-transactable area is unavailable, courts may still fix fair compensation by escalating proven rates from comparable nearby acquisitions in earlier years, and a party's own prior concession on rate before a lower court can be used against it on appeal.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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