ORDER :

SANJEET PUROHIT, J.

1. The present appeal has been preferred by the appellant – National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) under Section 37 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“Act of 1996”), being aggrieved by the order dated 04.04.2017 passed by Learned District and Sessions Judge, Sirohi. Learned court below, while dismissing the application preferred by the appellant under section 34 of the Act of 1996, affirmed the Arbitral Award dated 08.11.2013 and the order of the Competent Authority Land Acquisition (“CALA”) dated 13.05.2012.

2. The genesis of the present dispute lies in the Central Government’s project to extend National Highway No. 14 along the stretch from 246.000 kms to 306.400 kms. For this public purpose, a notification under Section 3A of the National Highways Act, 1956 (“Act of 1956”) was issued on 27.09.2004, identifying various land parcels for acquisition, including Khasra No. 1240 in the revenue village of Santpur, ad-measuring 0.1537 hectares.

2.1. Following the statutory procedure for hearing objections, the Central Government issued a notification under Section 3D of the Act of 1956 on 28.06.2005, whereby the acquisition of a portion of Khasr