The court established the authority of the State Government and Collector to issue orders for acquisition of right of user in respect of private property under the Indian Telegraph Act and Electricity Act, emphasizing the absolute power of the Telegraph authority and the mechanism of compensation provided under the Acts.

JUDGMENT :

Sanju Panda, J.

1. The petitioners, who are the villagers of Sarandamal and Junadihi, in the district of Jharsuguda pray for quashing the order dated 06.04.2016 passed by the Government of Odisha in Revenue & Disaster Management Department under Annexure-4 as well as the order dated 08.04.2016 passed by the Collector & District Magistrate, Jharsuguda under Annexure-5 to the writ petition, wherein M/s. National Thermal Power Corporation Limited ('NTPC' in short), Darlipali, S.T.P.P. was permitted to exercise the powers for right of way/right of use of private property as per the land schedule submitted by the GGM, M/s. NTPC, Darlipali for laying overhead electric lines and underground water pipelines in the lands of the petitioners.

2. The brief fact as delineated in this writ petition tends to reveal as follows:

The petitioners claiming to be the marginal farmers are residing in the village Sarandmal and Junadihi under Lakhanpur Tahsil in the district of Jharsuguda. The lands are recorded in the name of the predecessors of the petitioners and the same are the only resource of their livelihood. They are engaged in cultivation. The Land Acquisition Officer-opposite party No. 4 issued a general notice in the year 2016 informing the villagers to attend a meeting in the office of the Collector to discuss about the proposed laying of pipeline and electric line by NTPC. Thereafter no notice was issued to the petitioners. However, in the month of December, 2018 the authorities of District Administration as well as the officials of NTPC along with others made a site visit and the petitioners came to know that NTPC is going to lay underground water pipeline as well as 132 Kv overhead electric transmission lines in the lands of the petitioners. On enquiry the petitioners could come to know that NTPC for its commercial requirement is setting up a 1600 MW Thermal power plant at Darlipali village of Lephripara Tahsil in the district of Sundergarh and for such project it intends to draw water from Hirakud Reservoir through underground pipeline. NTPC further intends to construct two numbers of 132 Kv transmission lines along with the said water pipeline corridor.

3. According to learned counsel for the petitioners, the Principal Secretary to Government of Odisha in Revenue and Disaster Management Department vide its letter dated 06.04.2016 has authorized the Collector to issue appropriate orders under section 16(1) of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 read with section 164 of The Electricity Act, 2003 for acquisition of right of user in respect of the private property with proper compensation and subject to certain conditions. Thereafter the Collector, without any notice to the petitioners/land losers or without any payment of compensation vide letter dated 08.04.2016 allowed NTPC to undertake the project implementation over the land belonging to the petitioners. According to them, the Collector in the said order conferred the authority of NTPC to exercise all power that of Telegraph Authority by purported exercise of the power under section 164 of the Electricity Act, 2003.

4. The main grounds of challenge of the petitioners is as follows:-

(a) Though the Government and the Collector have issued directions for payment of compensation before commencement of work, the same has not been complied with. The provisions of Right to Fair Compensation & Transparency in Land Acquisition Act, 2013 ought to have been followed including the social impact assessment and rehabilitation and resettlement, before their lands are taken for the said purposes.

(b) The NTPC being neither a distribution licensee nor a transmission licensee under section 14 of the Electricity Act, 2003 do not possess any authority and jurisdiction under Section 67 of the Act to lay overhead electric lines over the private lands without their consent.

(c) There being no notification as provided under section 164 of the Electricity Act, 2003 issued by the appropriate Government confer