As per the Land Acquisition Act, the government approval is necessary when the award sum exceeds a certain limit, the Madras High Court has said.

In his order on a writ petition, Justice V. Dhanapalan said the very object of Section 11(1) of the Act was to get approval from the appropriate government or the officer authorised for that purpose to accord approval, wherein the limit had been fixed. As per a G.O. when the compensation exceeded Rs.10 lakh, the authority should get government approval. It could not be construed that as there was government approval for the earlier notification and declaration, that per se was sufficient for passing the award.