In Brief
The Supreme Court examined six consolidated civil appeals arising from land acquisition proceedings in Punjab. The State had acquired land in nine villages for the Satluj-Yamuna canal project under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. The High Court had partly allowed landowners' appeals, enhancing compensation based on a lead case (Hari Singh) which assessed market rates by considering location, quality, and distance from Chandigarh. For village Bhago Majra, a 20% deduction was applied to account for location factors. The Supreme Court upheld this approach as methodologically sound. While rejecting pleas for further enhancement, it allowed a belated recall application by one appellant to obtain the benefit of the Hari Singh determination, though without interest for delay.">
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