The High Court of Karnataka has upheld notifications issued back in 1994 to acquire around 270 acres of land belonging to the Jamanlal Bajaj Seva Trust in favour of the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC), Bengaluru, for setting up a mega market.
Justice Krishna S. Dixit passed the order while dismissing two petitions, filed in 1999 and 2000, by the trust questioning the legality of notifications issued between 1994 and 1999 for acquiring around 170 acres and 100 acres of land in Srigandhada kaval and Herohalli villages of Bengaluru north taluk.
Chequered history
The legal battle between the government and the trust has a chequered history as several rounds of litigation were fought before the land tribunal, the High Court, and the Supreme Court.
Initially, a single-judge Bench of the High Court (HC) in 2014 quashed the acquisition by declaring that acquisition of these land lapsed in terms of Section 24 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, as the award was not yet passed under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1984 when the 2013 Act came into force. A Division Bench of the HC in 2017 upheld this 2014 order.
However, the Supreme Court in 2022 set aside orders passed by the High Court and remitted the matter back to the single judge of the HC to decide the legality of acquisition on various legal issues other than the lapse under Section 24 of the 2013 Act. It is based on this order of the Supreme Court the HC heard arguments on behalf of the trust and the government, and upheld the acquisition.
Public purpose
“Any step aimed at agrarian reforms, the term being construed in its wide amplitude, has the Constitution as a support. It cannot be disputed that the contemplated mega market would benefit farmers immediately and agriculture mediately. Therefore, it cannot be gainfully contended that the same is not a public purpose,” Justice Dixit observed while rejecting trust’s claim that the project is not for public purpose.
On the issue of delay in passing award for compensation, the HC said that a partial compensation amount was paid to the trust in terms of the outcome of the meeting, held between the officials of the trust and the government in 1999, but the remaining amount was not disbursed owing to pendency of litigations before the land tribunal. The HC also rejected the claim of the trust that APMC had disbanded the project
Meanwhile, the HC directed the government to pay the compensation to the trust as agreed in the meeting held on September 24, 1999, along with an interest of 12% per annum from the date of award, within three months.
Published – February 05, 2025 07:00 am IST