A Writ Petition is not maintainable to enforce a compensation award under the National Highways Act when the validity of said award is pending before a statutory arbitrator, as the Act provides a self-contained, exclusive mechanism for dispute resolution which must be exhausted.

Order on Board

1. By filing the present petition, the petitioner calls in question the inaction and arbitrary conduct of the respondent authorities in failing to deposit the compensation awarded under the supplementary award dated 11.04.2018, despite acquisition of the petitioner’s land for the widening of National Highway No. 30/200 Raipur–Bilaspur Project, thereby depriving the petitioner of the justly entitled compensation for the loss of property. The petitioner has prayed for following relief(s) :-

“10.1 To call the entire records of the case for kind perusal of the this Hon'ble Court in respect of the petitioner.

10.2 To issue an appropriate writ of Mandamus or direction to the respondent authority to pay compensation in the respect of the property affected in the proceeding of land acquisition and property been demolished by the respondents with interest rate of 18%.

10.3 To direct the respondent No. 1 to 3 to deposit compensation according to the supplymentory award dated 11.04.2018 before the competent authority.

10.4 Any other relief deemed fit in the facts and circumstance of the case may also granted.”

2. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the respondents acquired the petitioner’s land under the provisions of the National Highway Act, 1956 (for short, ‘Act of 1956’), through a land acquisition proceeding initiated in the year 2012 for the purpose of widening National Highway No. 30/200. At the time of acquisition, the petitioner had constructed and was running a shop on the said land. Despite repeated claims and complaints made before the competent authorities, the petitioner has not been compensated for the loss of property, including the superstructure constructed on the land. It is submitted that the petitioner, along with other affected persons from village Sankra Saddu, approached the competent authority seeking redressal of the loss suffered due to the acquisition. The competent authority, respondent No. 4, directed the Executive Engineer of the Rural Engineering Service to evaluate the petitioner’s loss. Pursuant to this direction, a report evaluating the property loss was submitted, which culminated in the issuance of a supplementary award dated 11.04.2018 granting the petitioner due compensation for the loss of property.

3. Learned counsel further submits that despite the issuance of the supplementary award, respondents No. 1 to 3 have failed to deposit the awarded amount with the competent authority. Even after the petitioner sent a reminder dated 28.09.2018 to respondent No. 3, there has been no action taken by the respondents to release the due compensation. The inaction and omission on the part of the respondents have caused continued harassment and undue hardship to the petitioner. It is submitted that the failure of the respondents to pay the compensation amounts to a violation of the petitioner’s constitutional right to property, recognized under the law, and constitutes arbitrary and unlawful behavior. The respondents, by taking possession of the land and allowing the destruction of the petitioner’s property without releasing the due compensation, have acted in a manner that is both oppressive and legally impermissible.

4. In view of the foregoing, learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the inaction of the respondents is bad in law and liable to be corrected by this Court. It is