NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH, BILASPUR Writ Petition (C) No. 3229 of 2021

1. Satyendra S/o Dinbandhu Aged About 32 Years

2. Kanti W/o Dinbandhu Aged About 62 Years

3. Nutan D/o Dinbandhu, Wife of Pramod, Aged About 36 Years

4. Lalita W/o Ganpat Aged About 70 Years

5. Kamla W/o Chandrashekhar Aged About 60 Years

6. Jaiprakash S/o Komal Aged About 20 Years

7. Kailashi W/o Komal Aged About 40 Years

8. Veena D/o Kanhaiya, Wife of Prakash Narayan, Aged About 36 Years

9. Manoj S/o Lekhram Aged About 40 Years

10. Amrit Kumari D/o Lekhram Aged About 36 Years

11. Ramkrishna S/o Chhabiram Aged About 65 Years 12. Harikrishna S/o Chhabiram Aged About 62 Years

13. Bhagwat S/o Kriparam Aged About 34 Years 14. Meerabai D/o Jagdish Aged About 65 Years

15. Dulendra S/o Kanhaiyalal Aged About 35 Years

16. Parmanand S/o Jagdish Aged About 60 Years

17. Damodar S/o Jeetram Aged About 45 Years

18. Rambai D/o Chhabiram Aged About 70 Years All are by Caste Kalar, R/o Village Ulda, Tahsil Kharsiya, District Raigarh (C.G.)

---- Petitioners Versus

1. The State of Chhattisgarh, Through The Secretary, Department of Revenue and Disaster Management, Mantralaya, Mahanadi Bhawan, Atal Nagar, Nawa Raipur, District- Raipur, Chhattisgarh

2. The Additional Commissioner Bilaspur Division, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, District: Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh

3. Sub- Divisional Officer (Revenue) and Land Acquisition Officer/

Competent Authority under National Highway No. 49, (Old No. 200), Kharsiya, Tahsil- Kharsiya, District- Raigarh, Chhattisgarh

4. The Executive Engineer, National Highway No. 49 (Old No. 200), Bilaspur Division, Bilaspur, District : Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh

5. Hemant Kumar S/o Late Nakul Aged About 50 Years

6. Tamradhwaj S/o Late Nakul Aged About 65 Years

7. Jeevan Kumari D/o Late Nakul Aged About 62 Years

8. Hem Lal S/o Late Nakul Aged About 45 Years

9. Devcharan S/o Late Nakul Aged About 43 Years

10. Tankeshwar S/o Late Nakul Aged About 40 Years

11. Vijay S/o Late Nakul Aged About 38 Years

12. Rameshwari D/o Late Nakul Aged About 44 Years

15. Bhuneshwar S/o Shri Thirram Jaiswal Aged About 50 Years Respondents No. 5 to 15 are by Caste- Kalar, R/o Village- Ulda, Tahsil-

Kharsiya, District- Raigarh, Chhattisgarh ---- Respondents For Petitioners : Mr. Roop Naik, Advocate For Respondents No. 1 to 3 : Mr. Shashank Thakur, Deputy Advocate General For Respondent No. 4 : Mr. Tushar Diwan, Central Government Counsel For Respondent No. 5 : Mr. Nikhil Wadhwani, Advocate on behalf of Mr. Awadh Tripathi, Advocate For Respondents No. 8, 9 & 10 : Mr. Ratnesh Agrawal, Advocate For Respondents No. 11, 13 & 14 : Ms. Surya Kawalkar Dangi, Advocate Hon’ble Shri Justice Rakesh Mohan Pandey

Order on Board

20.02.2024

1. Learned counsel for the petitioners and learned counsel for the respondents would fairly submit that there is a dispute with regard to the apportionment of compensation amount awarded under the National Highways Act, 1956. They would further submit that an application was moved before the Sub Divisional Officer (Revenue), Kharasiya [for short 'SDO(R)'] by the petitioners and in that proceeding, respondents No. 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13 and 14 were not arrayed as a party. It is also stated that an appeal was preferred against the order of SDO(R) dated 23.12.2020 before the Divisional Commissioner, Bilaspur and in that appeal, the petitioners were not arrayed as a party.

2. It is not in dispute that the petitioners and the private respondents are members of the family and there is a dispute with regard to apportionment of compensation amount.

3. Section 3H (4) of the National Highways Act, 1956 deals with disputes with regard to the apportionment of compensation amount or any part thereof and if any application is moved before the competent authority, he shall refer the same to the decision of the principal Civil Court of original jurisdiction within the limits of whose jurisdiction the land is situated.

4. In the present case, the SDO(R) as well as the Divisional Commissioner exercised the power which was n