BENGALURU: To prevent injustice to farmers during land acquisition by ensuring they receive fair compensation, the guidance value is revised periodically, said Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda.
The minister said that by periodic guidance value revision, the gap between the official rates and the market rates would be brought down and added that by doing so, the scope for ‘black money’ in land dealing would also decline.
He was replying to opposition MLC KS Naveen in the Karnataka Legislative Council on Wednesday, who raised the issue, stating that the compensation in several land acquisition cases was determined based on 2019 guidance value only, though the same was revised in 2023. He sought to know from the government if this had caused financial losses to farmers who lost their lands in the acquisition.
He highlighted that the law is clear related to land acquisition, and it is done as per the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 and that once the primary notification for land acquisition is issued, the guideline value for such land will not be revised. Instead, he said the compensation is determined based on the previous guideline price or the average of the highest registered sale deeds in the preceding three years.
The minister said that there is a huge difference between the guidance value and the land’s current market value, and that in some areas, while the guidance value was around Rs 2 lakh, the actual market value was nearly Rs 80 lakh.
He said that this difference encouraged transactions involving black money, with people discussing the amount needed to be paid through ‘cheque’ and ‘cash’. Byre Gowda said that if the guidance values are revised periodically, they would reduce the gap and ensure farmers are paid fair compensation for the lands acquired for public projects.