Owners of 60.95 acre, which were leased to Coimbatore airport more than 80 years ago, are urging the Airport Authority of India (AAI) to settle the arrears pending since 2014.
They claimed that the arrears continue to accumulate despite multiple representations made to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the AAI over the years.
Land owners claim that the 60-odd acres of land falling under Singanallur and Kalapatti villages were leased to the airport in 1942 for military purposes. The agreement in 1942 was to pay a lease of ₹10 per acre to the owner.
They allege that the payment of lease stopped in 2014. Following continuing demands, the Coimbatore District Collector enhanced the lease amount value to 5% of the land cost in a tripartite meeting in 2006.
P.R. Jaganathan, one of the land owners, said 20 land owners approached the Madras High Court in 2020, which ordered that 9% interest of the land cost be paid to owners from the date of the announcement of acquisition of land for airport expansion, which was from 2010. However, the State government appealed against the order in the Supreme Court, a hearing on which is still under way.
“Most of the affected landowners are senior citizens and they had been struggling for the settlement of the arrears for decades. Though these lands had been in the custody of the AAI, they were considered as agricultural land during the acquisition, for which a compensation of ₹900 per sq. ft. was awarded as against ₹1,500 per sq. ft. for residential land. The leased lands should have been treated as residential land,” he added.
Published - February 21, 2025 08:34 pm IST
