The assessment of compensation for land acquisition must prioritize the highest market value from relevant sale deeds and apply provisions of newer compensation regulations.

Judgment :

Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya, J.

1. By a judgment dated May 8, 2025, a co-ordinate Bench of this Court, inter alia comprised of one of us (Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya, J.), had disposed of two appeals bearing FAT No. 516 of 2019 and FAT No. 3 of 2019, which, we are apprised, have not been interfered with in any further challenge till date and operates as res judicata between the parties thereto.

2. All the present appeals and cross-objections arise from the self-same land acquisition proceeding from which the said previous appeals arose. The arguments advanced by the land losers as well as the State in the previous appeals are adopted in their entirety by both sides in the present appeals. It has been prayed that the instant appeals be also disposed of in terms of the judgment passed in the said earlier appeals. However, for the sake of completion, we narrate the salient features of the said judgment dated May 8, 2025, while passing a similar judgment in the present appeals as well.

3. The matter arises out of a Notification issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter referred to as “the LA Act”) in respect of lands located at Mouza- Bhadrakali in Uttarpara, West Bengal in respect of acquisition of such lands for the public purpose of rehabilitation of squatters/ refugees of the Bhadrakali Women’s Home. The Notification was followed by a hearing given under Section 5A of the LA Act by the District Collector. However, in an order passed in connection with a writ petition, a fresh hearing under was directed to be held and all previous steps taken from the initial hearing under the said provision till then were annulled.

4. In the meantime, the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Re-settlement Act, 2013 (for short, “the 2013 Act”) came into force with effect from April 1, 2024, pursuant to which the calculation of compensation was required to be made under Section 26 of the 2013 Act by dint of Section 24 thereof.

5. A re-hearing was held under Section 5A and awards were duly passed, in respect of which references were initiated at the behest of the land losers, including the present land losers, under Section 18 of the LA Act. Since the Rules under the 2013 Act had not been framed till then, by another order of a learned Single Judge of this Court, the reference was directed to continue under of the LA Act.

6. By the impugned common judgment and awards dated September 20, 2018, the reference cases was disposed of. Being aggrieved by the same, the land losers as well as the State have preferred the present appeals and cross-objections.

7. The cardinal grounds of challenge by the State are as follows:

a. The impugned award was passed on the basis of five sale deeds produced by the land losers before the Referral Court, out of which at least two were executed post-notification. The date of Notification under Section 4 of the LA Act, as published in the Extraordinary Gazette, was September 20, 2011, which is agreed on by both parties to be the relevant date for the purpose of calculation of compensation. Whereas the sale deeds produced by the land losers were in respect of lands with structures, the lands acquired in the present cases were without any structures, although recorded in the records-of-rights to be “Bastu” in nature. Thus, the deeds in respect of lands with structures could not a reasonable basis for assessment of compensation in respect of vacant lands.

b. The plots covered by the sale deeds produced by the land losers are situated far away from the subject-plots in the present matters and were adjacent to a 25-feet wide road. Thus, those sale deeds would dep