Arbitrator's award of Rs 16L for Thane land set aside

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has set aside a 2015 award made by an arbitrator where the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) paid compensation to a landowner as per the land rates prevailing in 1996. The landowners claimed that the 1996 compensation was as per the Land Acquisition Act 1894 instead of the Land Acquisition Act of 2013 which was in force when the arbitration took place.

The HC upheld the contentions of the landowner and held the arbitrators order as perverse and illegal. While the arbitrator awarded compensation for the land worth Rs 16 lakh, the price of the land runs into crores.

The bench of justice R.D. Dhanuka while hearing the arbitration petition of two elderly residents of Dadar, was informed that they were owners of 12 gunthas in Majiwada village, Thane and had inherited the land from their grandfather.

Senior advocate Birendra Saraf for the petitioners told the HC that the BMC had acquired 14 annas out of the 12 gunthas in 1951 for building a protective wall around the Tansa pipeline. Thereafter the petitioners had enjoyed absolute ownership of the remaining land till 1985 when the BMC started constructing an office building on their land.

After the ownership issue was settled through civil cases in 1992, the BMC approached the petitioners seeking acquisition the entire land.