KIADB must use 2013 land-acquisition law for awards made after April 2022, Karnataka High Court rules

The petitioner’s land in Sy. No. 71/4, Nandur (K) Village, was included in a KIADB acquisition initiated by a preliminary notification dated 9 December 2020 under Section 28(1) of the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Act, 1966 (KIAD Act), followed by a final notification dated 23 November 2022 under Section 28(4).

The Special Land Acquisition Officer (SLAO) passed a general award on 25 April 2025 under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.

At the hearing, the petitioner abandoned his challenge to the acquisition notifications and confined his challenge to the award, contending that compensation had to be determined under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (2013 Act).

The respondents argued that the applicable law depended on the date of the preliminary notification.

1. Whether the SLAO could pass the award under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, when the award was made after the amendment to Section 30 of the KIAD Act took effect.

2. Whether the general award should be set aside and a fresh award made under the 2013 Act, notwithstanding that the preliminary and final acquisition notifications pre-dated the amendment.

Section 30 of the KIAD Act, as substituted by Karnataka Act No. 20 of 2020 with effect from 5 April 2022, incorporates specified provisions of the 2013 Act—including provisions concerning compensation—into acquisitions under the KIAD Act.

The Court held that these provisions applied to KIAD awards made after the substitution took effect; an award passed after that date under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 could not be sustained.

The Court relied on the co-ordinate Bench decision in Smt. Anitha and Others v. State of Karnataka and Others, W.P. No. 4627/2024, decided 27 September 2024, which quashed awards made under the 1894 Act after 5 April 2022.

Although the acquisition notifications were issued in 2020 and 2022, the award was made on 25 April 2025, after Section 30 of the KIAD Act had been substituted with effect from 5 April 2022.

The Court treated the date of the award—not the date of the preliminary notification—as decisive for determining the applicable compensation regime.

It therefore concluded that the SLAO lacked authority to make the award under the 1894 Act and followed Smt. Anitha in setting it aside.

The general award dated 25 April 2025 was set aside, and the KIADB Land Acquisition Officer was directed to make a fresh award under the 2013 Act within three months of receiving a certified copy of the order.

Any amount already deposited or released to the land loser is to be adjusted against the fresh award.