Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Sep 2: The state high court (HC) has asked the government to consider the prospects of enhancing the compensation payable to owners of the lands that are proposed to be acquired for building a separate airbase for Coast Guard.

A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice of the high court, Justice S K Mukherjee, and Justice B V Nagaratna, which took up the appeal preferred by the state government against the earlier order of the single judge bench, ordered the government to scrutinize the applications made by the people whose lands are proposed to be acquired for the airbase for a hike in the compensation offered, and take a suitable decision on the issue.

The bench had, during the last week, ordered to maintain status quo relating to the dispute on land acquired by the government.

The single judge bench of the HC presided over by Justice Anand Byrareddy, which had taken up petitions filed by Oswald D'Souza and others questioning land acquisition, had upheld land acquisition, but had ordered to fix compensation as per the new act, observing that the rate offered is not jusfiiable. The bench had observed that the market price for a cent of land in the area works out to about Rs 1.5 lac, whereas the government had offered only Rs 8,000 per cent, which it found to be not justifiable.