The Supreme Court recently stated that owning property is a fundamental human right, especially in a welfare state. This means that people cannot lose their property without getting paid fairly and quickly.
A group of justices, including Justices B R Gavai and K V Vishwanathan, were very critical of the Karnataka government, which had not paid landowners for 22 years after taking their land. The government planned to acquire about 13,237 acres of private land and around 6,956 acres of government land to build an infrastructure project connecting Bengaluru and Mysuru. All this totalled around 20,193 acres, which was given to the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise back in 2005, but the landowners still didn’t receive their payments.
The Supreme Court overturned a previous decision from the Karnataka High Court, which had denied the landowners the right to receive compensation based on current market rates. The justices recognized that the landowners had been treated unfairly for so long. They pointed out that money loses value over time due to inflation, so the compensation that would have been enough in 2003 is not enough today in 2025.
The court emphasized the importance of resolving compensation issues quickly whenever land is taken for public use. Although property rights were changed by an amendment to the Constitution in 1978, owning property is still considered a human right in India.
The court noticed that the landowners had done nothing to delay their payments; the delays were due to the slow actions of the state’s officials. The Supreme Court used its special powers to ensure that land values are assessed from April 22, 2019, and ordered a new compensation decision to be made within two months. If the court allowed payment based on 2003 values, it would be unfair and a mockery of the law. The justices criticized the state for being inactive from 2003 to 2019 until they were reminded through legal notices.
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