Concept Of 'Tentative Award' Is Foreign To Land Acquisition Act: J&K&L High Court Upholds Landowners' Right To Seek Reference

The Jammu & Kashmir High Court held that the Land Acquisition Act does not recognise the concept of a “tentative award”, clarifying that what is often referred to as such is merely a tentative assessment of compensation subject to approval of the competent authority.

The Court further ruled that an application filed by landowners objecting to compensation at the tentative stage can be treated as a valid reference application under Section 18, if the rate remains unchanged in the final award.

A bench of Justices Sanjeev Kumar, Sanjay Parihar while setting aside the Reference Court's dismissal and remanding the matter for fresh adjudication, observed “The term 'tentative award' is completely foreign to the Land Acquisition Act.”

The Court examined Section 11 of the Act and clarified the statutory scheme “What Section 11 provides is tentative assessment of compensation… If the tentatively assessed compensation exceeds the amount specified… the Collector is under an obligation to refer the record… for approval.”

The Court noted that landowners had received 80% of compensation under protest and filed objections before the Collector. While the application was pending, the competent authority approved the proposed rates, and a final award was issued on 02 July 2014 without altering the rate fixed earlier.

In this backdrop, the Court held “The application… moved by the petitioners when the tentative award was passed… must be treated as an application for reference against the final award.”

It found that the Collector rightly treated the earlier objection as a reference request because the rate of compensation in both tentative and final stages remained the same.

Terming technical objections hyper-formalistic, the Court rule “Shorn of technicalities, the reference made by the Collector should be treated as a valid reference.”

Consequently, the High Court set aside the order of the Reference Court and remitted the matter back for decision on merits “For all these reasons… we are inclined to set aside the order… and remit the reference back… for its determination on merits.”

Case-Title: Abdul Khaliq Nengroo vs Collector Land Acquisition Pulwama, 2025

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