Chennai: Finding fault with the government in fixing compensation awarded for acquiring prime property in Velachery 14 years ago, a city court, has hiked the compensatoin from Rs 102 to Rs 2,000 per sq feet.
The judge, VI assistant city civil, R.K.P. Tamilarasi, said the acquired land is surrounded by many apartments and Velachery bus terminus, MRTS railway station, IT firms, schools, colleges, commercial buildings, banks, malls, showrooms and hospitals.
Hence, the acquired land would fetch more value than the value fixed by the authority. The matter pertains to land acquired from Packrisamy and others in Velachery in 2003. The government acquired the land for the southern sector inner ring road between Velacherry-Phase-II to St Thomas Mount. They received a compensation of Rs 102 per sq ft as per section 20 (1) of Highways Act.
As the claimants were dissatisfied with the award, they sought a compensation of Rs 5,000 per sq ft as market value at the time of acquisition. After a delay of six years, the compensation was awarded in 2009. Due to the inordinate delay they were unable to purchase alternate property within Corporation limits.
The rate of Rs 102 per sq ft was nothing but plunder preventing them to alternative land, they said. As per the the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013, they were entitled for Rs 5,000 per sq ft.
In its reply, the Land Acquisition Officer cum Collector, Southern Sector of Inner Road Scheme, said they had accepted the value of Rs 102 per sq ft. Judge Tamilarasi said the guideline value would never be a market value and the guideline value would be taken into account for the purpose of collecting stamp duty.
Therefore, fixation of market value based on data sale deeds is not correct. The authority fixed the compensation at very low rate without considering the locality of the property, the judge said. Land value in Velacherry has gone up manifold in recent years.
They are entitled to get compensation for the acquired land of '2,000 per sq.ft., and also entitled to get 30 per cent solatium on the enhanced value of the land and 12 per cent additional market value commencing from December 2003 to October, 2009.
