In Brief
The Supreme Court upheld the use of the Belting System to value a large 300-acre land acquisition in Safidon, Haryana, comprising multiple parcels with road and interior portions. The Court rejected the landowners' argument that compensation should be based on the highest comparable sale rate of Rs. 4,500 per square yard from 59 small-plot sales, finding such small-plot valuations incomparable to large-block compensation. Distinguishing genuine from inflated sales, the Court found some transactions were bogus schemes to artificially boost claims. The Court enhanced compensation to Rs. 45 lakh per acre for road-frontage land and Rs. 35 lakh per acre for interior land, applying principled valuation methodology accounting for development costs and actual potentiality. The appeals were partly allowed.
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