The Patna High Court has ruled that former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar is entitled to compensation for land acquired by the Bihar government about five decades ago, holding that she must be compensated under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.

The land measures about 18 kathas and 10 dhurs, roughly 0.56 acre, in the Mainpura locality of Patna. It was acquired in Land Acquisition Case No. 50 of 1975-76 for construction of a drainage channel under the Bengal Embankment Act. Although possession was taken and the project was built, compensation was never paid to the original landholder, Indrani Devi, or later to her daughter Meira Kumar, according to the court record reported by The Hindu and PTI.

In an order dated October 6, Justice Khatim Reza quashed the District Collector's order of April 12, 2023, which had cancelled the jamabandi, or revenue record, standing in the family's favour and declared the land public wasteland. The court held that order to be illegal and without jurisdiction, and restored the jamabandi created in favour of Kumar's mother.

The court said Section 4(h) of the Bihar Land Reforms Act, 1950, applies only to transactions after January 1, 1946, while the land had been settled by the ex-landlord in 1941 and later passed through registered sale deeds, with Indrani Devi acquiring it in 1965. It also noted that a state-appointed three-member committee had confirmed the 1941 settlement in 2016. A long-standing jamabandi cannot be cancelled in a summary proceeding, the court observed, adding that if the state wishes to challenge a pre-1946 title it should approach a competent civil court.