Supreme Court Stays ₹410 Crore Compensation Hike For Defence Land In Arunachal, Cites Alleged Fraud In POA

The enhanced compensation, which ballooned from Rs. 70 crore to over Rs. 410 crore, was put on hold by the Bench of Justice K V Viswanathan and Justice N Kotiswar Singh.

The Bench passed the interim direction while hearing a Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the Union of India and others challenging a March 2025 order of the Itanagar bench of the Gauhati High Court.

The Central government contended that the compensation had already been paid to the landowners but was later increased substantially by an additional district and sessions judge in October 2024, following a reference made by one person allegedly armed with a “fabricated power of attorney” from over 100 beneficiaries.

The Centre also argued that the reference itself was based on fraud and that the forged power of attorney enabled the petitioner to manipulate proceedings in the reference court.

It further informed the Court that while the original compensation of Rs. 70 crore had been duly disbursed, the high court had subsequently ordered a stay on the reference court’s order, subject to the deposit of 50% of the enhanced amount.

Challenging the High Court’s condition, the Centre submitted before the apex court that it was willing to deposit only 10% of the enhanced compensation as security and requested that no part of the additional amount be disbursed until final adjudication of the appeal.

Taking note of the submissions, the Supreme Court directed, “Issue notice to the respondents. There shall be a stay of operation of the impugned order on condition that the petitioner, as undertaken by them, deposit 10 per cent of the enhanced amount in the registry of the high court within four weeks from today.”

The Court also stayed the October 2024 order passed by the reference court and listed the matter for further hearing on August 18, 2025.