The Madras High Court has imposed a cost of Rs.25,000 on Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) for taking 22 years to pay a compensation of Rs.41,864 to a woman whose 4,880 square foot of land was acquired by the Board way back in 1993.
Disposing of a contempt of court application filed by R. Rukmani, Justice S. Manikumar directed the TNHB to pay the cost to the petitioner within 10 days in order to compensate the agony and hardship undergone by her in the last 22 years by filing case after case to receive the amount.
“Had the petitioner been paid the compensation amount in the year 1993 itself, it would have had its value. Judicial notice can be taken that one sovereign of gold was sold for around Rs.3,000 in the 1990s. Therefore, then the petitioner could have purchased about 13 sovereigns of gold with Rs.41,864.
“Today, the cost of one sovereign of gold is about Rs.22,000 and with the money disbursed now, the petitioner cannot even imagine purchasing more than two sovereigns. In terms of value of gold, the compensation amount of Rs.41,864 is now roughly equivalent to Rs.2.86 lakh,” the judge added.
He also said that the petitioner had to knock the doors of the court several times seeking disbursement of the compensation amount and while doing so, she had to engage lawyers, spend money for preparation of case documents, travel long distances and wait in the court corridors.
Further, pointing out that the she could receive the entire compensation amount only after filing of the present contempt application, the judge said: “The Housing Board should not expect a landowner to be at its mercy and issue orders only when a contempt petition is filed and notice is ordered.
“The Board which required the land, for some purpose, is duty bound to pay the compensation immediately to the land owner… It cannot shirk its responsibility and blame other institutions or the Special Tahsildars appointed for the acquisition for the delay in disbursing the compensation.
“Judicial notice can also be taken of the fact that in many cases, orders passed by this Court are complied with only after receipt of statutory notice in contempt of court applications.”
TNHB took 22 years to pay a compensation of Rs.41,864 to a woman whose land was acquired
