Supreme Court asks Noida to pay farmers full compensation in 30-year-old land case

Time of India

08-05-2025

Noida: The Supreme Court has asked Noida Authority to pay Rs 6 crore as compensation for 10,420 sqm acquired from farmers in Sector 82 three decades ago. The land was partially used for public infrastructure without completing the entire acquisition process.
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The SC rejected Noida Authority's offer of partial compensation, which was upheld by the Allahabad High Court in a 2023 order. The top court said land ownership verification must be completed within two weeks, while the compensation should be paid within six weeks thereafter.The land parcel at Begampur village in Bhangel was purchased by the petitioner's mother, Manorama Kuchhal, in 1985-86. Of the 11,680 sqm that she had purchased, Manorama sold 1,260 sqm in 1989. Between 1989-90, Noida Authority initiated the process to acquire the land for infrastructure projects, including a bus terminal and roads, through notifications issued under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.The acquisition was challenged by Manorama's husband, JB Kuchhal, before the Allahabad High Court. Initially dismissed in 1997 for want of prosecution, the petition was revived in 2007. In Dec 19, 2016, the high court ruled in favour of the Kuchhal family and quashed the 1989-90 acquisition notifications. It directed Noida Authority to either compensate the landowners at double the market rate of the land, as per the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, within three months, or return the land after removing all constructions.Alleging non-compliance with the 2016 order, Manorama filed a contempt application in 2017 against the Authority and dthe istrict administration. She argued the Authority had deliberately reduced the compensable land area from 10,420 sqm, as per a 2012 Tehsildar report, to 8,636 sqm, claiming a bus terminal was constructed on their land without adequate compensation.Noida Authority submitted the applicants' landholding was only 8,636 sqm after accounting for sales in 1989-90. The Authority stated that only 2,520 sqm were used for road construction, while 6,116 sqm remained vacant and available for return.A compensation of Rs 1.3 crore, calculated at Rs 5,280 per square metre, which was double the market rate of Rs 2,640, as assessed by a 2019 committee, was deposited in a nationalised bank after Manorama refused to take it, preferring commercial-rate compensation for the entire land, which was around Rs 315 crore. On July 21, 2023, the HC dismissed the contempt application, ruling that the Authority had complied with the 2016 order by offering compensation for the utilised 2,520 sqm and proposing to return the vacant 6,116 sqm. Before the HC order, Manorama died, and the case was pursued by her son, Suneil.Dissatisfied with the High Court's ruling, Suneil appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that Noida Authority misinterpreted the 2016 judgment, which mandated compensation for the entire land or its complete return. The Supreme Court, in its April 30, 2025, order, found no wilful disobedience by Noida Authority. The bench of Justices Surya Kant and Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh, however, held that the high court, while hearing the contempt plea, erred in limiting compensation to a portion of the land.The SC bench clarified that the 2016 judgment obligated the Authority to either return the entire land or pay compensation for all 10,420 sqm. Observing that the vacant 6,116 sqm, surrounded by the Authority's developed land, was unusable by the landowners, but valuable for Noida Authority's future development plans, the court ruled in favour of full compensation.The court directed Noida Authority and the district administration to verify the total land area within two weeks of receiving the sale deeds and pay compensation at Rs 5,280 per sqm—Rs 2,640 base rate plus 100% solatium—as determined by a 2023 committee. "This rate was in fact offered to the appellant for land measuring 2,520 sqm, which was utilised for the construction of a public road. We, thus, deem it appropriate to direct that the same rate of compensation, along with all statutory benefits, shall be offered to the appellant for their entire land measuring 10,420 sqm, subject to the verification of the total area owned by them," read the court order. The payment, it said, must be completed within six weeks of verification.