SC clears decks for Rs 60 lakh relief to Narmada oustees
There are around 45,000 oustees from MP, Gujarat and Maharashtra who could not get land in lieu of their lands.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered payment of Rs 60 lakh compensation each to 681 families of farmers with two hectares of land affected by land acquisition in Madhya Pradesh for the Sardar Sarovar Dam project in 193 villages.
A three-judge Bench of Chief Justice J.S. Khehar and Justices N.V. Ramana and D.Y. Chandrachud also awarded Rs 15 lakh each to 1,358 families who had accepted compensation earlier. It said the amount payable shall be adjusted against payments already made.
On receipt of the money, the Bench asked the farmers to vacate their lands by July 31, 2017, failing which the authorities can forcibly evict them. The bench passed this order after counsel Sanjay Parikh, appearing for Narmada Bachao Andolan, submitted a practical compensation plan for rehabilitating the oustees affected by the project.
NBA said as per the agreement and the top court judgment, land has to be given in lieu of land and not money to the oustees as villages will be submerged by raising the height of the dam.
The Madhya Pradesh government said some oustees are not willing to take the land given to them, to which the NBA’s counsel said these were barren lands not fit for cultivation.
The CJI told the petitioner’s counsel, “You can’t scuttle the implementation of the project pending for 25 years. You have stalled the project for too long. We will give you four times the compensation based on the 2013 New Land Acquisition Law. What else do you want? We will allow raising the water level.”
There are around 45,000 oustees from MP, Gujarat and Maharashtra who could not get land in lieu of their lands. It was submitted that 192 villages and one township in MP, 19 villages in Gujarat would be submerged if the project was implemented. But authorities informed the court that farmers in Gujarat and Maharashtra had accepted the rehabilitation scheme.
Counsel for NBA asked why poor people whose lands have been taken away from them should continue to suffer. It was pointed out that the farmers are left with neither land nor livelihood despite there being binding orders from the Supreme Court upholding their right to land.
As per the Narmada Tribunal Award and Supreme Court’s verdicts, all adult sons were entitled to five acres of cultivable and irrigable land, and any discrimination would lead to the violation of the constitutional rights of the oustees, the NBA argued.