The court determined the legal framework for land acquisition for national highway projects, mandating adherence to specific laws and providing an additional compensation to landowners due to procedural failures.

JUDGMENT

Sanjeev Kumar-J

1. The land owners of in as many as twenty villages, whose land has come under acquisition for construction of “semi ring road” being constructed by the National Highway Authority of India [“NHAI”] from Pampore to Sonawari are before this Court in these two writ petitions.

2. The ring road undertaken by the NHAI for construction would pass through districts of Srinagar, Budgam, Pulwama and Bandipora. The Government of India has entrusted the job of constructing the ring road to NHAI. With a view to acquiring private land of the land owners in the aforesaid districts for laying down the ring road, the NHAI has approached the local authorities of the State Government i.e. Collectors under the Jammu and Kashmir Land Acquisition Act, 1990 for acquiring the required land. Accordingly, the Collectors within their respective jurisdictions have issued notifications under Section 4 of the J&K Land Acquisition Act Svt. 1990 [“1990, Act”] followed by notices issued under Section 6 and 7 of the 1990 Act by the Government. It is the allegation of the petitioners that the notices issued under Section 4 by the Collectors for acquisition of the land in their respective jurisdictions are mostly published in English Daily Newspapers, though they are fully aware that 90% of the land owners are illiterate. It is the case of the petitioners that the procedure laid down in 1990, Act for publication of notices under Section 4 has been followed in breach. It is submitted that in some cases where land owners or some of them came to know of the publication of section 4 notification(s) in English Daily newspapers filed their objections but same, too, have not been disposed of by the Collector(s) concerned. In short, the grievance of the petitioners is that the entire acquisition proceedings have been conducted at their back by throwing the procedure prescribed under the 1990, Act to wind, which has resulted in grave miscarriage of justice. The petitioners were not given an opportunity to object to the acquisition or to the rates proposed for payment of compensation.

3. Apart from pointing out the procedural illegalities allegedly committed by the Collectors, the petitioners have also joined issue on the applicability of J&K Land Acquisition Act, 1990 to the acquisition in question. The petitioners have even gone to the extent of challenging the constitutional validity of the 1990, Act on the ground that it violates Article 14 and 19 of the Constitution of India. The mode and manner prescribed in the State Act for determination of compensation is also assailed by the petitioners as highly unreasonably and arbitrary. In short, it is pleaded by the petitioners that 1990, Act does not provide mechanism for determination of fair and just compensation to be paid to the land losers in the process of acquisition by the State.

4. In the backdrop of aforesaid factual matrix, the petitioners have inter alia prayed for following writs:-

i) Writ of mandamus to declare State Land Acquisition Act, 1990 as amended from time to time as ultra vires the Constitution of India.

ii) Mandamus to the respondents to pay compensation to the petitioners in lieu of their land acquired by the NHAI for construction of ring road in terms of communication of the NHAI dated 04.10.2017, wherein the NHAI has intimated to the Deputy Commissioner, Budgam to determine and finalize the land acquisition compensation by adopting Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 [“RFCTLARR Act”]

5.