HC upholds landowners' right to enhanced compensation, trashes NHAI's plea

Indian Express

a day ago

In a major relief to landowners, the Punjab and Haryana High Court (HC) Tuesday dismissed two petitions filed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which had challenged the payment of enhanced compensation, including an increased easement amount, for land acquired in Amritsar for a national highway project.
Justice Tribhuvan Dahiya ruled that once the landowners' easement rights had been acknowledged and compensation awarded, NHAI could not reopen the issue or deny enhanced benefits based on revised land rates. An easement refers to the right to use a portion of someone's land for a specific purpose, such as access or utilities, even though one does not own it. The court upheld earlier orders passed by the Executing Court in Amritsar and directed it to proceed with the landowners' execution applications without delay.
The case concerns land acquired in village Verka for the construction of National Highway-15, with acquisition notifications issued in 2008 and 2009 under the National Highways Act, 1956. The competent authority had initially fixed compensation at Rs 9,292 per square yard in 2010, along with a 10% easement amount for affected landowners.
After a long legal battle that included arbitration, objections under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, and a High Court appeal, compensation was finally enhanced to Rs 26,000 per square yard in 2017. However, the NHAI later objected to the recalculated easement amount, prompting further litigation.
Rejecting NHAI's challenge, Justice Dahiya quoted Section 3G(2) of the 1956 Act. 'The land owner whose right to easement has been affected by the acquisition of land shall be paid easement amount calculated at ten per cent of the amount of compensation… No doubt taking away of easement right has to be proved, but that has already been done by the landowners… which has been accepted by the petitioner/NHAI. There is no challenge to it to date.'
He further dismissed NHAI's argument that the HC's 2017 order enhanced only the base compensation and not the easement amount.
'This is a misconceived argument… Violation of easement rights has already been established, and need not be proved again for enhanced compensation.'
NHAI also attempted to invoke the doctrine of merger, arguing that the original award merged with the High Court's 2017 ruling and could no longer be enforced. The judge rejected this, stating: 'The argument is fallacious… The award granting easement amount was never set aside… It has instead been accepted and implemented by NHAI and they cannot now take a contradictory stand.'
The court also cited a SC ruling in Tarsem Singh to clarify that compensation for easement rights is separate and payable if the infringement has been proven.
Landowners' counsel, advocate Vijay Kumar Jindal, argued that since NHAI had never challenged the 2010 award granting the easement amount, it had attained finality. Agreeing with this, the court noted that NHAI's failure to raise timely objections meant they were now barred from doing so.