The Kerala High Court has observed that the competent authority for land acquisition (CALA) under the National Highway Act should take into account all the germane inputs, including the classification of land in revenue records, while determining the market value of land available on the date of issue of acquisition notification.
Justice Devan Ramachandran made the observation while disposing of a few writ petitions filed by Aboobacker and others from Alappuzha against the determination of land value based on the entries in the Basic Tax Register (BTR).
The petitioners pointed out that CALA had illogically accepted the entries in the BTR solely while determining the compensation because of the Centre’s order mandating that the value of a land be assessed on the basis of its revenue records.
Statutorily obliged
The court pointed out that the CALA was statutorily obliged to make a comprehensive inquiry, adverting to the documents of title; the physical nature of the property; the purposes for which it had been put to use prior to acquisition; the nature of the locality; the infrastructural development of the area where the land is situated; the nature of the road which it abuts; the ease of access to it and so on — juxtaposed by the entries in the revenue records and the fair value notifications.
