In Brief
In this land acquisition case, the Supreme Court upheld the High Court's determination of compensation for agricultural land in Maharashtra acquired for the Mukane Dam project. The landowners challenged the High Court's reduction of compensation rates set by the Civil Court. The Court held that the High Court correctly applied principles of valuation by comparing multiple contemporary sale deeds, preferring transactions closest in time to acquisition and involving larger land parcels. The Court rejected the landowners' argument that compensation for a large agricultural tract could be based on a small land parcel's sale price. Since the State accepted the High Court's decision, further reduction was not permissible. The appeals were dismissed.
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