The Karnataka High Court has imposed a Rs 1 lakh cost on a special land acquisition officer for delaying a 102-year-old landowner’s plea for enhanced compensation after land was acquired for an alternative road to Kempegowda International Airport.
Justice R Nataraj, in an order dated August 31, directed the Special Land Acquisition Officer (SLAO) of the Doddaballapura sub-division to pay the amount to B Ramaiah of Bettakote village in Devanahalli taluk. The court also ordered the officer to refer Ramaiah’s claim for enhanced compensation to the competent court within one month.
According to the report by Times of India, Ramaiah had challenged the compensation determined for land acquired to build an alternative road connecting Bettakote village with the airport. He alleged that the authorities notified the acquisition of 28 guntas but took possession of 29 guntas for the road project.
Ramaiah contended that the compensation was fixed at Rs 4.2 lakh for the 29 guntas. He sought Rs 18.5 lakh and repeatedly approached the SLAO, asking that his claim for enhanced compensation be referred to a civil court under Section 18(3)(b) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.
The landowner also alleged that officials damaged stone slabs he had installed around his property. The report said he had approached the high court after his representations to the land acquisition office were not acted upon.
The court found that the SLAO had failed to discharge statutory duties under the land acquisition law and had disregarded an order previously passed by a local court in Ramaiah’s favour. The high court treated the delay as serious enough to impose costs payable directly to the landowner.
The order also directs the SLAO to send the enhanced compensation claim to the competent court within the stipulated one-month period. That referral is significant because it moves the dispute from repeated administrative representations into the statutory adjudication process for determining whether additional compensation is payable.
The case arises from land acquisition connected to road infrastructure serving the airport region, where access routes have required the acquisition and use of private land in villages around Devanahalli. The proceedings show how disputes over the area acquired, compensation assessment and compliance with statutory procedures can continue even after land has been taken for public infrastructure.
Ramaiah’s original compensation claim and the court’s directions concern the land acquisition process rather than the operation of the airport road itself. The high court’s order now places two immediate obligations on the land acquisition administration: payment of the Rs 1 lakh cost to Ramaiah and referral of his enhanced compensation claim to the competent court within one month.
