News Citation : 2026 LN (HC) 222 | 2026:JHHC:9006
March 30, 2026 : In a significant ruling for landowners in Jharkhand, the High Court at Ranchi has substantially increased the compensation rate for 84.80 acres of land acquired for the NTPC Keredari Coal Mining Project. Presiding over a massive batch of 118 first appeals, Justice Anubha Rawat Choudhary fixed the new compensation at ₹15,783 per decimal, a major jump from the initial government rate of ₹4,823.
The legal battle centered on village Tarhesa in the Hazaribagh district, where land was taken under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act of 2013. While a lower trial court had previously bumped the rate to ₹11,000, both the claimants and NTPC were unhappy with that figure, leading to the high-stakes showdown in the High Court.
NTPC’s legal team argued for a lower valuation, attempting to introduce older sale deeds as evidence and suggesting that the “preceding three years” mentioned in the Act should be calculated based on the 2016 application date. However, the Court firmly rejected these arguments. Justice Choudhary clarified that the 2013 Act is explicit: market value must be determined based on the date of the Section 11 notification, which in this case was June 12, 2019.
By analyzing 14 relevant sale deeds from the surrounding vicinity and applying the legal formula of averaging the top 50% of values, the Court arrived at the ₹15,783 figure. The judge noted that the trial court’s previous middle-ground assessment of ₹11,000 lacked a cogent legal basis under the 2013 Act’s specific mandates.
While the Court dismissed NTPC’s appeals to reduce the payouts, it upheld the rights of the villagers to receive all statutory benefits provided by law. The ruling serves as a critical interpretation of how “market value” should be calculated in large-scale industrial acquisitions, ensuring that rural landowners are not shortchanged by administrative technicalities.
Case Reference : F.A. No. 52 of 2026 with analogous cases; Chief Project Manager, NTPC Ltd. vs. Saraswati Devi & Others ; Counsels: Mr. Prashant Pallav, Mr. Kumar Harsh (NTPC), Mr. Bhawesh Kumar, Mr. Ravi Kumar (Claimants), and Mr. Sahbaj Aktar, Mr. Rakesh Ranjan (State).
