Nishka Srinivas Veluvali
Published On: January 24, 2021 at 18:49 IST
The Supreme Court has Ruled that when a person’s land is purchased, he should be paid the Compensation instantly after he is deprived from the possession.
The Division Bench of Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice CT Ravikumar also held that in any Case if such Compensation is remitted to the person whose land is acquired shall be entitled to the interest from the date on which the he was deprived of the land possession.
The Judgement asserted that, “It is well-settled that the normal rule is that if on account of acquisition of land a person is deprived of possession of his property, he should be paid Compensation immediately and if the same is not paid to him forthwith, he would be entitled to interest on the Compensation amount from the date of taking possession of the land till the date of payment”.
The Supreme Court was considering the Appeal filed opposing the Bombay High Court Order which had Overruled the Judgement of the Reference Court.
The issue before the Supreme Court was about the liability to pay interest and whether it initiates from the date of possession or only from the date of award.
In the current Case, the Reference Case had Ordered that the interest to be remitted from April 1997 when the possession was taken to March 1998 for first year with the rate of 9% per annum and after that 15% per annum from April 1998 to September 2004 (date of payment).
However, this Order was Overruled by the Bombay High Court.
The Supreme Court referring to a Judgement held that the Appellant would be eligible to receive the interest from the date he was deprived from the possession of the land that is April 4, 1997.
The Supreme Court consequently restored the Reference Court Order.
Also read: Analysis of Land Acquisition in India