RFCTLARR Act | Market Value Of Acquired Land Must Be Determined Based On Date Of Section 11 Notification : Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Monday (April 21) ruled that the market value of the land acquired under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (“2013 Act”) should be determined from the date on which the acquisition notification is issued under Section 11.

Holding thus, the bench comprising Justices Dipankar Datta and Manmohan set aside the Gujarat High Court's decision, which determined the valuation date as January 1, 2014, i.e., the enforcement date of the Act, instead of the date of the Notification issued in 2023 for acquisition.

“the legislative scheme does not give discretion to the Courts to select a date for valuation. On the contrary, RFCTLARR Act, 2013 expressly mandates that compensation/valuation must be determined as of the date of Notification under Section 11 of the RFCTLARR Act, 2013 – which in this present case is yet to be issued.”, the court said.

Proviso to Section 26(1) of the 2013 Act explicitly states that the market value of the land shall be determined as on the date of issuance of the Notification under Section 11 of the 2013 Act.

Section 11 of the 2013 Act outlines the process for issuing a preliminary notification when the government intends to acquire land for a public purpose.

The Court said that the proviso to Section 26(1) uses the word "shall", making it mandatory that the valuation date is the date of the Section 11 Notification, thus the High Court erred in fixing January 1, 2014, as this date is irrelevant for fresh acquisitions under the 2013 Act.

“This Court is of the view that the said provision lays down the methodology for computing the market value of the land on the date of the acquisition notification. The use of the word „shall‟ in Section 26(1) proviso is reflective of the legislative mandate that Section 11 Notification is the date for determination of the compensation.”, the court said.

Legislative Intent Of 2013 Act Is To Reflect Current Market Value

“This Court has no doubt that the legislative intent is to ensure that the land owners receive fair compensation reflective of the market value prevailing at the time of acquisition. By fixing the date of 01st January, 2014 as the date for determination of market value, the impugned order deprives the Appellant of compensation at the 2023 rates, which must be considerably higher.”, the Court said.

Resultantly, the appeal was allowed.

Case Title: SUMITRABEN SINGABHAI GAMIT VERSUS STATE OF GUJARAT & ORS.

Citation : 2025 LiveLaw (SC) 448

Click here to read/download the judgment

Appearance:

For Petitioner(s) :Ms. Aastha Mehta, Adv. Ms. Poonam Mehta, Adv. Ms. Prerana Mohapatra, Adv. Ms. Prina Sharma, Adv. Mr. Anshuman Srivastava, AOR

For Respondent(s) :Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka, AOR