NEW DELHI: The Andhra Pradesh high court has directed state authorities to pay a 72-year-old woman land compensation that was awarded way back in 1976, after finding that the money never actually reached her, even though it was fixed nearly five decades ago.Justice B. Krishna Mohan said that even though the government had worked out and set aside the compensation amount at the time, simply passing an award is not enough and the state also has a duty to actually pay the money to the landowner.Why were landowners waiting 50 years for compensation?The petitioner, Kunisetty Hymavathy, had bought around 5 acres of land in Martur village, Prakasam district, through three registered sale deeds in 1973. She and her husband later moved to Chennai, then Visakhapatnam, and then Vijayawada for work, before finally returning to Guntur. Her husband died in 2006. After that, other family members looked after the land — her father until he died in 2008, and a close relative until he died in 2019, as per the court order.It was only in 2020, after her son and General Power of Attorney holder made enquiries, that the family found out the land had been acquired by the government decades earlier and handed over to people who built houses on it. The petitioner said she was never given notice about the acquisition and never received any compensation.She went to the high court asking it to declare the entire acquisition — including the award dated 09.04.1976, and to direct the government to pay her fresh compensation under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.The state argued that the land had been acquired lawfully in 1976, following the correct process. This included a draft notification, an award enquiry where the petitioner’s husband and father took part and raised objections, and finally an award of Rs 31,377.75 as compensation.The state further added that it had sent notices asking the petitioner to come and collect the money, in 1976 and again in 1979, but she did not turn up. So the amount was deposited with the state’s revenue department. The land was later divided into house plots and given to beneficiaries that same year.What did the court say on delayed land acquisition compensation?The court held that since the acquisition, including the award, was completed in 1976 under the old Land Acquisition Act, 1894, the 2013 Act could not be invoked to reopen the case.However, the court found that the compensation fixed in 1976 had still not reached the petitioner. It said fair compensation is a basic requirement of any land acquisition process, and that once the amount has been determined, it must be paid immediately — otherwise it would amount to a breach of Article 300-A of the Constitution.“The State cannot abdicate its constitutional and statutory responsibility of payment of compensation by stating that its role is limited only to initiation of acquisition proceedings and passing of the award,” the bench added.On the decades-long delay, the court noted that “the purchasing power of money decreases over time due to inflation. What the petitioner could have bought with the compensation in the year 1976 cannot do in the year 2026.”While it declined to apply the 2013 Act, the court said it was necessary to direct the authorities to pay the compensation amount, along with interest, until the payment is made.The court directed authorities to pay the petitioner the originally awarded Rs 31,377.75 with 12 per cent annual interest from 09.04.1976 until payment, within two months, along with any other benefits due under the 1894 Act.
