SC orders Rs 60 lakh relief each to affected farmers in Madhya Pradesh

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered payment of Rs. 60 lakhs compensation each to 681 families of farmers with two hectares of land affected by land acquisition in Madhya Pradesh for the Sardar Sarovar dam project in 193 villages.

Giving this relief, a three-judge Bench of Chief Justice J.S. Khehar and Justices N.V. Ramana and D.Y. Chandrachud also awarded Rs 15 lakhs each to 1358 families who had accepted compensation earlier. It said the amount payable shall be adjusted against payments if any already made to such farmers.

On receipt of the money, the Bench asked the farmers to vacate their lands by July 31, 2017 failing which the authorities can forcibly evict them from their land. The bench passed this order after the State of Madhya Pradesh government and counsel Sanjay Parikh appearing for the Narmada Bachao Andolan submitted a practical compensation plan for rehabilitating the oustees affected by the Project.

NBA said as per the agreement and judgment of the top Court, land has to be given in lieu of land and not money to the oustees as villages would be submerged by raising the height of the dam. MP govt said some oustees are not willing to take the land given to them but NBA said these were barren lands.

The bench found out a solution after the State of Madhya Pradesh government and counsel Sanjay Parikh appearing for the Narmada Bachao Andolan submitted a practical compensation plan for rehabilitating the oustees affected by the Project.

The CJI told the petitioner's counsel “you can't scuttle the implementation of the project pending for 25 years. You have stalled the project for too long. We will give you four times the compensation based on the 2013 new land acquisition law. What else you want. We will allow raising the water level.”

Counsel for NBA denied the court's perception that the petitioners were delaying the project. He replied that these were barren lands not fit for cultivation and hence the villagers did not accept lands. There are around 45,000 oustees from MP, Gujarat and Maharashtra who could not get land in lieu of their lands acquired due to submergence. It was submitted that 192 villages and one township in MP, 19 villages in Gujarat would be submerged if the project was implemented.

But authorities informed the court that farmers in Gujarat and Maharashtra had accepted the relief and rehabilitation scheme. 

Counsel for NBA asked why poor people whose lands have been taken away from them should continue to suffer. It was pointed out that the farmers are left with neither land nor livelihood despite there being binding orders from the Supreme Court upholding their right to land. As per the Narmada Tribunal Award and the Supreme Court verdicts, all adult sons were indisputably entitled to five acres of cultivable and irrigable land, and any discrimination would lead to the violation of the constitutional rights of the oustees, the NBA had argued.