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2025 Supreme(Mad) 3048
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADARS
N. SATHISH KUMAR, J.
The Special Tahsildar (Land Acquisition), Nallathangal Odai Reservoir Scheme, Dharapuram and Ors. – Appellants
Versus
Marimuthu (Died) and Ors. - Respondents
Appeal Suit No.377 of 2022 and C.M.P.No.13387 of 2022
Decided On : 28-03-2025
For the Appellants : Mrs. R. Anitha, Special Government Pleader.
For the Respondents: Mr. N. Ponraj.
The determination of compensation in land acquisition must reflect the market value, considering bona fide sale transactions and the prevailing conditions to ensure fairness in compensation.
Headnote:(A) LAND ACQUISITION ACT, 1884 - Sections 4(1), 11, 18 and 23 - Compensation for land acquisition - Reference Court enhanced compensation for agricultural and manavari dry land based on sale exemplars and potential market value - Appellants contested the enhancement as unjust - Court affirmed the Reference Court's findings as just and supported by relevant evidence - Appeal dismissed. (Paras 2, 8, 17, 24)
(B) Market Value - Determination of - The court upheld that market value should reflect what a willing buyer would pay to a willing seller, recalling established precedents on fair compensation principles. (Paras 18-22)
Facts of the case:
The land acquisition involved approximately 7.85 hectares for a reservoir project, with an initial compensation set at Rs.29,000 per Are, later contested by landowners seeking enhanced compensation based on market sales.
Findings of Court:
Enhanced compensation upheld at Rs.1,00,000 per Are for agricultural land, Rs.70,000 for manavari land, alongside statutory benefits.
Issues: Court evaluated the legitimacy of compensation enhancement and whether the Reference Court’s basis for valuation was sound.
Ratio Decidendi: Market value should reflect prevailing market conditions; reliance on comparable sale exemplars was justified to ascertain fair compensation.
Result: Appeal suit dismissed.
| Table of Content |
|---|
| 1. background of land acquisition case. (Para 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7) |
| 2. arguments over compensation valuation. (Para 10 , 12 , 13 , 14) |
| 3. court's consideration of submissions. (Para 11 , 15 , 16 , 17) |
| 4. legal principles underlying compensation. (Para 18 , 19) |
JUDGEMENT :
The Special Tahsildar (Land Acquisition), Nallathangal Odai Reservoir Scheme, Dharapuram; the Revenue Divisional Officer, Dharapuram; and the Executive Engineer, Water Resources Organisation, Amaravathi Water and Drainage Division, Public Works Department, Karur, have preferred this appeal suit. The respondents are claimants.
2. This appeal suit is against the order passed by the learned Subordinate Judge (Reference Court) at Dharapuram, enhancing the compensation from Rs.29,000/- per Are (Rs.62,160/- per Hectare) for the agricultural land and Rs.9,986/- per Are (Rs.24,443/- per Hectare) for the manavari dry land as fixed by the Referring Officer to Rs.1,00,000/- per Are (Rs.2,47,000/- per Hectare) for the agricultural land and Rs.70,000/- per Are (Rs.1,72,900/- per Hectare) for the manavari dry land, respectively.
3. Brief facts that lead to the filing of the appeal suit are as follows: -
(a) A total extent of 7.85.0 hectares of land in S.Nos.303/2, 303/3, 303/4, 674/1B, 678/1, 678/4, 679/1B, 879/2B, 704/2, 705/1, 705/3, 707/2, 709/3B, 1019/2, 1020/1, 1020/3, 1020/4, 1023/1, 1024/1, 1024/2, 1025/1, 1025/2 of Ponnivadi village was proposed to be acquired at the request of the Tamil Nadu Public Works Department for the purpose of constructing a reservoir dam across Nallathangal Odai in Ponnivadi village. Accordingly, a notification under Section 4(1) of the LAND ACQUISITION ACT , 1884, was issued vide Official Gazette No.344 dated 24.07.2001, and a publication in a local daily was also issued on 25.07.2001. After due enquiry an award came to be passed under Section 11 of the LAND ACQUISITION ACT , 1884, vide Award No. 5 of 2003 dated 06.04.2003.
(b) The details of the land acquired from the respective claimants, compensation awarded by the LAO and the reference court are as follows:
| Sl.No. | Claimant's Name | S.No. | Extent in | |
| Hectare Acre | ||||
| 1 | Marimuthu (Died) Originally 1st claimant in the reference | 303/2 | 0.24.0 | |
| 303/3 | 0.15.0 | |||
| 303/4 | 0.08.0 | |||
| Total | 0.47.0 | 1.16 | ||
| 2 | Palanisamy (Died))S/o.Mariyappagounder who was originally 2nd claimant in the reference represented by LRs Subramanian (C24) and Mallikadevi (C25) | 674/1 | 0.62.0 | 1.53 |
| 3 | Chandirasekaran (Died) who was originally 3rd claimant in the reference represented by LRs Kamalam (C20) and Gowthaman (C21) | 678/1 | 0.05.0 | |
| 679/1B | 1.18.5 | |||
| 305/3 | 0.01.0 | |||
| Total | 1.24.5 | 3.11 | ||
| 4 | 1.Easwaramoorthy (C5) 2.Palanisamy (C6) S/o Periyasamygounder 3.Tamilarasi (C7) 4.Malarvizhi (C8) | 678/4 | 0.11.5 | |
| 707/2 | 2.03.0 | |||
| Total | 2.14.5 | 5.30 | ||
| 5 | Kumarasamy (9th claimant) | 1025/2 | 0.06.0 | |
| 679/2 | 0.25.0 | |||
| Total | 0.31.0 | 0.77 | ||
| 6 | K.N.Palanisamy (C13) | 709/3B | 1.19.0 | 2.94 |
| 7 | Nachimuthugounder (Died) Selvakumar (Died) who were originally respondents 14 & 15 in the reference represented by LRsDhandapani (C22) and Kandhasamy (C23) | 1019/2 1020/3 | 0.18.0 0.14.0 | |
| Total | 0.32.0 | 0.80 |
(c) The 1st respondent/Land Acquisition Officer (LAO) took into consideration a total of 57 sale transactions that had taken place three years preceding the issuance of the 4(1) Notification and, based on a sale transaction that took place on 26.05.2000, whereby an extent of 2.58 Ares of land comprised in S.Nos.397/3 and 397/5 of Ponnivadi village was sold for Rs.72,380/- per Are, the 1st respondent had determined the market value for the acquired land at Rs.29,000/- per Are or in other words, Rs.62,160/- per Hectare.
(d) Being aggrieved by the market value determined by the 1st respondent/LAO to arrive at the compensation for the acquired lands, the appellants sought reference to the Reference Court (Subordinate Judge) at Dharapuram to establish their claim for enhanced compensation. Accordingly, the LAO made references under Section 18 of the LAND ACQUISITION ACT , 1894.
4. The claim of the landowners before the reference court in brief is as follows:
(a) The acquired la
