Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) on Monday filed an appeal before a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court against a single judge verdict holding that owners whose the land was acquired for metro rail project were entitled to get their claims settled under the provisions of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.
KMRL contended in the appeal that the single judge had failed to consider that the sale consideration for the land was arrived by a district-level purchase committee by adopting the criteria mentioned in the resettlement Act. Therefore, the petitioner could not legally claim any further benefits as per the Act. Besides, rehabilitation and resettlement had been followed in the cases, irrespective of whether the property was taken over by acquisition or by negotiated sale. KMRL also pointed out that the Railway Act and Metro Act had been exempted from the provisions of this Act.
The single judge’s directives came on a petition challenging the State government’s refusal to pay them compensation under the Act.
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According to the landowners, as no rules were framed, the authorities did not proceed under the provisions of the new Act. Instead, they forced the petitioner and others to deliver the property in advance. They cooperated with the authorities for taking over the land, subject to their right to get due compensation and other benefits under the law governing the land acquisition.