Today, On 2nd September, The Supreme Court dismissed Infosys’ plea against higher compensation for land acquisition, rejecting the company’s excuse that delay occurred as it “took time to translate documents from Kannada to English.”
The Supreme Court dismissed a petition from Infosys Limited that challenged the increased compensation awarded to the family of a landowner whose property in Mysuru was acquired for the company’s campus expansion.
A Bench comprising Justices Dipankar Datta and Manmohan declined to excuse the delay of over 160 days in filing the appeal. Infosys explained that the delay was due to the time taken to translate documents from Kannada to English.
Justice Datta remarked, rejecting the application at the outset,
“Infosys saying it took time for them to translate documents from Kannada to English? Dismissed,”
Senior Advocate Atmaram Nadkarni, representing Infosys, requested the Bench not to dismiss the plea on the grounds of limitation and offered to submit a new affidavit to support the condonation application.
However, the Bench declined to consider this request.
The dispute originated in 2005 when the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) acquired 1.05 acres of land in Mysuru as part of an 18.04-acre acquisition for the expansion of Infosys’ campus.
Initially, the compensation was set at Rs.4.85 lakh per acre by the special land acquisition officer. Unsatisfied, the landowner’s family sought a reference under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.
In January 2020, the Mysuru reference court significantly increased the compensation to Rs.220 per sq ft, in addition to statutory benefits like solatium and interest.
Infosys contested this ruling in the Karnataka High Court, arguing that the reference court had improperly relied on auction sale deeds and small-plot transactions, which were not appropriate for assessing the value of larger agricultural lands.
The company also claimed there was insufficient evidence to support the land’s non-agricultural potential at the time of the initial notification, asserting that photographs and satellite images could not validate the enhanced compensation.
In response, the landowners highlighted that the acquired land was adjacent to the Infosys campus and situated in a rapidly developing industrial zone with numerous software and manufacturing firms. They referenced sale deeds for residential plots from 2005 that indicated values between Rs.430 and Rs.499 per sq ft.
They argued that the reference court set the lower rate of Rs.220 only because they could not afford the court fees for a cross-objection seeking further enhancement.
Earlier, On October 22, 2024, a Division Bench of Justices Sreenivas Harish Kumar and Umesh M Adiga rejected Infosys’ appeal, noting that even after applying deductions, the available sale exemplars supported a value higher than Rs.220 per sq ft.
The court also acknowledged the land’s evident industrial potential due to its proximity to Infosys’ existing operations.
By the time Infosys approached the Supreme Court, the delay in filing had exceeded 160 days.
Case Title: Infosys Limited v. B Raju