In Brief
The Supreme Court addressed land acquisition compensation in Karnataka. A State agency acquired respondent's land for a bird sanctuary in 2008. The Land Acquisition Officer fixed compensation at Rs.21,488 per guntha; the Reference Court raised it to Rs.76,230 per guntha; the High Court further enhanced it to Rs.40 lakhs per acre, relying heavily on a consent award from a different 2011 acquisition for a railway project. The Court held that consent awards cannot mechanically determine compensation in unrelated acquisitions. It remanded the case for the High Court to reassess compensation considering all material evidence, location factors, and development potential, excluding the 2011 award as incomparable."]
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