Once an Award is passed by the Arbitrator under the National Highways Act, there is no scope for the District Collector/Arbitrator to re-determine the compensation on any grounds.

ORDER :

[Prayer:- Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for issuance of a Writ of Mandamus to direct the first respondent to pass orders on the representation dated 25.05.2020 for fixation of compensation awarded in the Modified Award No.7/14 dated 24.01.2018 as per the provision of Sections 26 to 30 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (Central Act 30 of 2013) and by applying multiplier two and pay the revised compensation together with interest and other benefits to the petitioner.]

The issue involved in these Writ Petitions is common and therefore, these Writ Petitions are taken up together for hearing and disposed of by this common order.

2. In these Writ Petitions, the petitioners have sought for issue of a Writ of Mandamus directing the first respondent/District Collector to pass orders on the representations made by them seeking for re-fixation of compensation awarded as per the provisions under Sections 26 to 30 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 [for the sake of brevity, hereinafter referred to as “RFCTLARR Act”] and to pay the revised compensation together with interest, within a time fixed by this Court.

3. The case of the petitioners is that they are owners of their respective properties which were acquired by the National Highways Authorities of India. The compensation was determined by the Competent Authority by Awards passed on 27.10.2014, 20.09.2015 and 07.10.2015 in Award No.7/2014, Award No.6/2015 and Award No.7/2015 respectively. These were common Awards. The land owners were directed to produce relevant documents in order to enable the second respondent to pass individual Awards. Accordingly, the petitioners also produced relevant documents before the Competent Authority and the Competent Authority has passed the Modification Awards. Particulars are given hereunder:-

4. The petitioners were aggrieved by the Modification Awards passed by the Competent Authority and they filed Arbitration Applications before the first respondent/Arbitrator under Section 3G(5) of the National Highways Act, 1956 and sought for enhancement of compensation. The first respondent/Arbitrator had passed Awards. Details are given hereunder:-

5. There is no dispute with regard to the fact that the petitioners had received