Interest on land acquisition compensation is payable from the date of the Section 11 award, not possession.

The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) sought to acquire land in village Medadaraj, Taluka Kadi, District Mehsana for the PJR-18-LQL project.

The Special Land Acquisition Officer (SLAO) issued an award on 01.07.2003 under Section 11 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, fixing compensation at Rs.22.50 per sq. mtr.

The Reference Court, via judgment dated 19.07.2012, enhanced the compensation by Rs.69 per sq. mtr. and ordered interest to be paid from the date of taking possession or the Section 4 notification, whichever was earlier.

ONGC appealed, limiting their challenge solely to the commencement date of the interest.

1. Whether the Reference Court erred in granting interest from the date of Section 4 notification or possession instead of the date of the award under Section 11 of the Act.

The court applied the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, specifically Section 11 regarding the passing of the award and Section 18 regarding references to Court.

Establishing that interest on additional compensation should be calculated from the date of the award passed by the SLAO under Section 11 of the Act.

Judicial precedent set by a coordinate Bench in First Appeal No. 4044 of 2009, which followed the Division Bench ruling in General Manager v. Govindbhai Nanjibhai Patel (First Appeal No. 388 of 2010).

The High Court observed that the primary dispute raised by the appellant (ONGC) was the specific timeline for interest accrual.

The Court noted that for land acquisition in the same village and under similar circumstances, prior coordinate benchmarks had already determined that interest should be awarded from the date of the Section 11 award.

Since the SLAO declared the award on 01.07.2003, the Reference Court's direction to pay interest from the date of the Section 4 notification (31.03.2003) or possession was inconsistent with recent high court precedents concerning this specific project and locality.

Consequently, the court found it necessary to modify the interest trigger date to align with established judicial consistency.

The rest of the judgment and award passed by the Land Reference Court, including the quantum of compensation, was confirmed.

The Registry was directed to keep a copy of the order in all connected matters.