Gamla Landowners Keep Rs 348/sq m Compensation For Land Taken For Railway Line As Gujarat HC Rejects Railways’ Appeal

The claimants’ agricultural lands at village Gamla, Dahod, were acquired for a new railway line between Dahod and Indore. The Section 4 notification was published on 20 January 2010, followed by a Section 6 notification on 4 June 2010. The Special Land Acquisition Officer awarded compensation at Rs. 11 per square metre.

On reference, the Reference Court awarded Rs. 348 per square metre, with costs, interest and statutory benefits.

The Railway appealed under Section 54 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, contending that the Reference Court had relied on awards concerning other villages and had not adequately assessed comparability.

The claimants relied, among other things, on the affirmed awards concerning nearby villages and the Division Bench’s decision in related appeals concerning the railway-line acquisitions.

Under Sections 23 and 54 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, compensation is to reflect the relevant market value, having regard to applicable factors including the land’s location and potentiality; an appeal against a reference award may be decided under Section 96 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

In the absence of contemporaneous comparable sales, an award concerning similar land in the same or an adjoining village may be relevant evidence.

General Manager, ONGC Ltd. v. Rameshbhai Jivanbhai Patel, (2008) 14 SCC 745, cautions that escalation from an earlier sale or award may become unsafe where the time gap exceeds four to five years; the appropriate rate depends on the evidence and surrounding circumstances.

Central Warehousing Corporation v. Thakur Dwarka Kalan Ul-Marruf Barglan Wala, 2023 INSC 940, recognises that the appropriate cumulative annual increase depends on the length of the gap and case-specific circumstances; for an eleven-year gap, it applied 8%.

The Court noted that the Punsari lands were approximately 2.5 to 3 kilometres from Gamla and that the villages were in adjoining areas with similar characteristics and potentiality; it also considered the related Jalat awards arising from the same railway-line project, which had been affirmed by a Division Bench.

The Division Bench had treated the Punsari award as a relevant base and, applying an 8% cumulative increase over the approximately ten-year gap, calculated a market value higher than the amount awarded in the related Jalat proceedings.

The Court considered those findings and the surrounding development, highway access and proximity to Dahod relevant to the Gamla lands’ potentiality.

As the claimants had not appealed or filed cross-objections seeking enhancement, the Court confined its consideration to the Railway’s challenge and found no basis to reduce the award.

Finding no merit in the Railway’s appeal, it dismissed the appeal and directed the Office to return the record and proceedings to the concerned Tribunal.