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2019 (9) TMI 1480 - SC - Indian LawsNon-grant of solatium and interest to lands acquired under the National Highways Act - Vires of Section 3J of the National Highways Act, 1956 - HELD THAT:- National Highways Act, 1956, as originally enacted, did not provide for acquisition of land. Thus, till the National Highways Laws (Amendment) Act, 1997, all acquisitions for the purpose of National Highways were made under the Land Acquisition Act, and the owners were given, in addition to market value, solatium as well as interest under the provisions of that Act. Keeping in view the object of reducing delay and speedy implementation of highway projects, the amended National Highways Act does away with any “award” by way of an offer to the landowner. Post the notification under Section 3A, objections are to be heard by the competent authority, whose order is then made final. The moment the authority disallows the objections, a report is submitted to the Central Government, and on receipt of such report, the Central Government, by a declaration, states that the land should be acquired for the purpose mentioned in Section 3A. The important innovation made by the Amendment Act is that vesting is not postponed to after an award is made by the Competent Authority. Vesting takes place as soon as the Section 3D declaration is made - delays in references made to District Judges and appeals therefrom to the High Court and Supreme Court have been obviated. Section 3G(7) does not provide for grant of solatium, and Section 3H(5) awards interest at the rate of 9% on the excess amount determined by the arbitrator over what is determined by the competent authority without the period of one year contained in the proviso to Section 28 of the Land Acquisition Act, after which interest is only awardable at the rate of 15% per annum, if such payment is made beyond one year. Thus, the solatium that is paid to a landowner is on account of the fact that a landowner, who may not be willing to part with his land, has now to do so, and that too at a value fixed legislatively and not through negotiation, by which, arguably, such land owner would get the best price for the property to be sold. Once this is understood in its correct perspective, it is clear that “solatium” is part and parcel of compensation that is payable for compulsory acquisition of land. The Nagpur Improvement Trust case has to be read as a whole. Merely emphasising one example from the passages that have been extracted above (supra) will not make the ratio of the said judgment inapplicable. Besides, the second proviso to Article 31-A deals with persons whose lands are acquired when such person is cultivating the same personally. The reason for awarding compensation at a rate which is not less than market value is in order that a farmer, who is cultivating the land personally, gets other land of equivalent value, which he can then cultivate personally. As such farmer is at the centre of agrarian reform legislation, such legislation would be turned on its head if lands were to be acquired without adequately compensating him instead of from absentee landlords whose lands are then to be given to the landless and to such persons if they personally cultivate lands less than the ceiling area under State Agricultural Ceiling Acts. Given the fact that the Government itself is of the view that solatium and interest should be granted even in cases that arise between 1997 and 2015, in the interest of justice we decline to interfere with such orders, given our discretionary jurisdiction under Article 136 of the Constitution of India. We therefore declare that the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act relating to solatium and interest contained in Section 23(1A) and (2) and interest payable in terms of section 28 proviso will apply to acquisitions made under the National Highways Act. Consequently, the provision of Section 3J is, to this extent, violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India and, therefore, declared to be unconstitutional - Appeal dismissed.
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