HC fines state govt for neglecting petition on land compensation

Bhopal: A division bench of the MP High Court imposed a cost of Rs 30 thousand on the state govt for failing to file a reply on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader, Alok Agarwal, despite being given several chances. The court said that half the amount of the penalty would go to the NBA and the rest to the Legal Aid Committee of the MP High Court.
Agarwal, in his petition, contended that the new Land Acquisition Act, 2013, provides that the amount of compensation against land acquired is multiplied by a particular number between 1 to 2. The multiplying number increases in the ratio of the distance of the land acquired from the nearest urban area. According to the distance from the urban area, the multiplying factor could be 1, 1.2, 1.4, or 2. This provision has been incorporated as the land in remote rural areas is less. However, the MP govt multiplies the amount of compensation only by 1, irrespective of the distance of the land from the urban area, thereby depriving hundreds of villagers of adequate compensation against their land. Agarwal argued that several states like Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Uttarakhand, and Maharashtra multiplied the amount of compensation by 2, thereby giving double the compensation than what the MP govt gives.
After the state govt failed to reply to the petition on several dates, the NBA requested the court to put a ban on all land acquisitions in MP till a reply is filed by the state govt. On the previous hearing, when counsel for the state govt sought a last chance to file a reply, the bench of Chief Justice S K Kait and Justice Vivek Agarwal said that the reply would only be admitted on the next date of hearing when the state govt pays a cost of Rs 30,000, half of which should go to the NBA and the remaining half to the Legal Aid Authority of the MP High Court.