New Delhi
The Supreme Court on Friday stayed an order by the Itanagar bench of the Gauhati High Court that had directed the Central government to deposit 50% of a ₹418 crore compensation amount for the acquisition of 537 acres of land in Arunachal Pradesh for defence purposes.
Appearing for the Centre, Additional Solicitor General S.D. Sanjay argued that the compensation was tainted by forgery. He informed the court that one individual, Dagli Riba, allegedly forged and fabricated power of attorney documents for 102 landowners and petitioned the Reference Court for a revaluation of the land’s market price.
While the landowners had accepted a cumulative compensation of ₹70 crore in November 2023 based on a government-assessed rate of ₹12.9 lakh per acre, the Reference Court increased the value to nearly ₹80 lakh per acre—eight times the original estimate. The government contends this revaluation was based solely on fraudulent documents submitted by Riba.
The apex court bench, led by Justice K.V. Viswanathan, noted that the government had earlier agreed to deposit 10% of the ₹418 crore as a precondition. Honouring that, the court directed the Centre to deposit ₹41.8 crore with the Itanagar Bench registry. The operation of the Reference Court’s order was suspended. The defence ministry had approved the land acquisition in February 2023 for establishing a Corps Ammunition Point in Bame village, Leparada district, near the Indo-China border. The Centre maintains that the inflated compensation demand was a result of “fraud, forgery, and fabrication.”
