The Supreme Court has said farmers, whose land is being acquired by government, should be compensated not only for their land but also for the plantation on the land.

V Raveendran H L Gokhale and Gyan Sudha Misra, set aside the order of the Bombay High Court which had held that once the compensation is awarded for the land, there cannot be additional or separate compensation for the trees.

The bench said if the land value had been determined with reference to the sale statistics or compensation awarded for a nearby vacant land, then necessarily, the trees will have to be valued separately.

The bench emphasised the need to compensate the farmers as per the market value of the land.