Compensation for Barakhamba Metro station landowners hiked

“References (petitions) are disposed of by holding that compensation awarded to petitioners at the rate of Rs 57,960 per square meter by Land Acquisition Collector (LAC) was inadequate and unreasonable,” Additional District Judge Nivedita Anil Sharma said.

Stipulating that the petitioners were required to be paid compensation at the rate of Rs 81,429 per square meter for their land and not Rs 57,960,the court asked the Centre to pay 30 per cent solatium (compensation for loss and inconvenience) to petitioners Kamla Shokeen,Shashi Mahindra,Hemant Pal Singh Gill and Deepa Gupta.

After enhancement,the petitioners are entitled to get Rs 4,40,53,089 along with interest and solatium.

The court also directed that its order be sent to LAC for information and also to deposit the balance amount immediately to avoid further burden upon the Government exchequer.

Shokeen,Mahindra,Gill and Gupta were having their flats at Indraprakash Building at Barakhamba road. The government had acquired their property to build the metro station for Delhi Metro Rail Corporation through a notification in 2003. The petitioners’,land which was acquired by the Centre,was measuring 541 square meters each. While enhancing the compensation,the court referred to its another recent judgment in which the amount was increased.

It said that the apex court has also held that if a compensation amount is already fixed for a land,then the same amount of compensation has to be given to other land owners whose similarly placed and situated,adjacent plots,are acquired under the same notification.

The Centre,DMRC and Land Development office,in their reply to the court,said the initial compensation awarded to the land owners was justified and reasonable.

“The compensation has been awarded on the higher side as multi-national companies have shifted from Barakhamba Road,Connaught Place to the satellite towns of Gurgaon and Noida and market value of the property has diminished,” they submitted in the court.