The Supreme Court has held that an annual land escalation cost of 10 per cent should be added while awarding compensation to land owners in semi-urban areas as they have a huge housing potential. A bench of justices G S Singhvi and H L Dattu said such compensation was essential as the poor land owners cannot be left to the mercy of authorities or others in fixing the compensation. The bench said that in such matters, the Court cannot be oblivious of the facts that the land owners have been deprived of the only source of livelihood, the cost of living has gone up manifold and the purchasing power of rupee has substantially declined. The bench passed the ruling while enhancing the rate of compensation to Rs.36/- per square feet for land owners in Erode district of Tamil Nadu. The aggrieved land owners Valliyammal and others had moved the apex court challenging the Madras High Court's decision to reduce the compensation fixed by the Reference Court.