IMPORTANT POINT
Only the District Judge has the authority to determine compensation sufficiency under Section 16(3) of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885.

JUDGMENT :

Manoj Kumar Tiwari, J.

Since common questions of law and fact are involved in this batch of writ petitions, filed by Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd., therefore, these are being heard and decided together. However, for brevity, facts of WPMS No. 1675 of 2024 alone are being considered and discussed, which has been filed seeking the following substantive relief:

“(i) Issue a Writ, Order or Direction in the nature of Certiorari calling for records and quash/set-aside ex-parte Order dated 13.12.2022 (Annexure No. 1) passed by respondent no. 2/District Magistrate.

(ii) Issue a Writ, Order or Direction in the nature of Certiorari calling for records and quash/set-aside ex-parte Order dated 17.10.2023 (Annexure No. 8) passed by respondent no. 2/District Magistrate.”

2. The impugned order dated 13.12.2022, passed by the District Magistrate, Haridwar, is on record as Annexure-1 to the writ petition. By the said order, application filed by private respondents for enhancement of compensation was allowed and the petitioner was directed to pay compensation as per the guidelines issued by Ministry of Power, Government of India (wrongly mentioned as Ministry of Labour in the said order) on 15.10.2015. The said order has been challenged by the petitioner on the ground that Section 16(3) of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 enables the District Judge to determine compensation, whenever a dispute is raised by the land owner regarding sufficiency of compensation paid under Section 10(d) of the said Act, therefore, the order passed by the District Magistrate, by invoking power under Section 16(3) of the said Act, is without jurisdiction.

3. Learned Counsel for the petitioner submits that Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. has been notified as Telegraph Authority under Part III of Indian Telegraph Act, 1885. He relies on a notification, issued by the Ministry of Power, Government of India on 24.12.2003, which has been issued in exercise of power under Section 164 of the Electricity Act, 2003 and the same is on record as Annexure-2 to the writ petition.

4. It is not in dispute that High Tension Electricity Transmission Towers and Electricity Lines have been erected over the agricultural field of respondent no. 1. According to petitioner, compensation payable to the land owner was determined, as provided under Section 10(d) of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, which was paid to the land owners. However, the land owners, feeling dissatisfied with the amount paid as compensation, approached the District Magistrate, who had no jurisdiction to entertain an application for enhancement of compensation. He relies upon the provision contained in Section 16 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, which is extracted below:

“16. Exercise of powers conferred by section 10, and disputes as to compensation, in case of property other than that of a local authority – (1) If the exercise of the powers mentioned in section 10 in respect of property referred to in clause (d) of that section is resisted or obstructed, the District Magistrate may, in his discretion, order that the telegraph authority shall be permitted to exercise them.

(2) If, after the making of an order under sub section (1), any person resists the exercise of those powers, or, having control over the property, does not give all facilities for this being exercised, he shall be deemed to have committed an offence under section 188 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860).

(3) If any dispute arises concerning the sufficiency of the compensation to be paid under section 10, clause (d), it shall, on application for that purpose by either of the disputing parties to the District Judge within whose jurisdiction the property is situate, be determined by him.

(4) If any dispute arises as to the persons entitled to receive compensation, or as to the proportions in which the persons interested are entitled to share in it, the telegraph authority may pay into the Court of the District Judge such amount as he deems s