He Karnataka High Court has urged the central government to resolve the revenue issue tax exemption disparity compensation under various laws, except the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.

“The apparent hostile discrimination of persons who lose land in an acquisition process under laws other than the 2013 Act cannot be looked upon as a Nelson,” the court noted, highlighting the beneficial provisions for land losers in under the 2013 Act, which remain inaccessible to those. affected by state legislation.

judges Krishna Dixit and Vijaykumar A Patil, sitting the Division Bench, made these statements while arguing an appeal by the Income Tax Department against the ruling of a single judge who had granted tax exemption to persons whose lands had been acquired under the state laws.

The Court clarified that the tax exemption is strictly limited to compensation under the 2013 Act, as specified by Parliamentary legislation.

The Court recognized significant discontent among people who lost land under other statutes, not only in relation to the lack of tax relief but also in relation to various enhanced compensation benefits available under the 2013 Act.

The court noted that “the benefits of the package provided in the 2013 Act are quite attractive compared to those provided in the state legislations. Furthermore, the amount of compensation to land losers is much higher (as per the 2013 Act).”

The Court concluded by stating: “…normally, the losers of land in the process of acquisition, whatever the status, constitute a homogeneous class, at least seen from the angle of reward.

It is high time for the central government to address this aspect of the matter and alleviate the grievance of land-losing farmers, in accordance with the content of the policy and the laudable intention enacted in Section 96 of the new Act. No need to specify a lot”. The court ordered its secretariat to send copies of the ruling to the Ministry of Finance and the Law Commission of India.