HIGH COURT OF TRIPURA AGARTALA CRP 45 of 2025

1. NER-II Transmission Ltd. to be repr esented by its Authorised Representative NER-II Transmission Ltd.

2. The officer-in-charge NER-II Transmission Ltd. having their registered office at:

Unit No. 101, First Floor, Windsor, Village Kole Kalyan Off CST Road, Vidyanagari Marg, Santacruz (East), Mumbai-400098 …….Petitioners V E R S U S

1) Smt Sumitra Debbarma, W/O Sri Sonatan Debbarma, D/O Sri. Budhurai Debbarma

2) Debananda Debbarma, S/O Sri Budhurai Debbarma, 3) Sri Manoj Debbarma, S/O Sri Budhurai Debbarma All are residents of BT para, Purba Noagaon, Post Office-Jirania, Police Station –

Jirania, Sub-division- Jirania, District-West Tripura.

4) Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd., A government of India enterprise, New Delhi, represented by its chairman cum Managing Director, Head office at B.9, Qutab Institute area, Katwaba Sarai, New Delhi-110016

5) The Regional Manager, Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd., North East Regional Office, Shayamali Bazar, P.O. Kunjaban, 799006, P.S. NCC, District-

West Tripura

6) The Dy. General Manager, Transmission Division, 79 Tilla, Agartala, P.S NCC, District- West Tripura

7) Tripura State Electricity Corporation Ltd., A government of Tripura Enterprise Represented by its Chairman cum Managing Director, Head Office at Bhuturia, Banamalipur, Agartala, P.S-East agartala, District- West Tripura

8) The Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Jirania, West Tripura

9) The Member Secretary, Khatangsa RPS, Chintaharan para, Purba Noagaon, P.S. Ranir Bazar, District- West Tripura, pin- 799035

10) Sri Surjya Kumar Debbarma, S/o. Sri Budhurai Debbarma, Resident of Bardhaman, Thakurpara, P.S. Ranir bazaar, P.O. Jirania, Pin-799035, West Tripura ………..Respondents For Appellant(s) : Mr. Karun Maheta, Advocate Mr. Kousik Datta, Advocate For Respondent(s) : Mr. Kushal Deb, Advocate Mr. RP Singh, Advocate Mr. Agniva Chakraborty, Advocate Mr. Samrat Sarkar, Advocate Date of hearing : 15.01.2026 Date of pronouncement : 03.02.2026 Whether fit for reporting : YES.

HON’BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE MR. M.S. RAMACHANDRA RAO JUDGMENT & ORDER This Revision is filed under Article 227 of the Constitution of India by the petitioner challenging the judgment dated 14.02.2025 by the District Judge, West Tripura District, Agartala ( for short ‘District Court’) in Civil Misc.(J) 01/2022.

The background facts

2. The 1st petitioner is M/S NER-II Transmission Ltd., which is a Government company incorporated in the year 2015.

3. It is a special purpose vehicle with several components comprising the North Eastern Region System Strengthening Scheme-II (Part-B) & V. The project was to strengthen the interconnection between the States of Tripura, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh and to provide an additional source of power to Itanagar and also to provide a strong interconnection between the northern and southern part of the north-east region.

4. The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission through an order dt.27.07.2017 granted transmission license to it to build, own, operate and maintain transmission lines covered under the above scheme and the Ministry of Power, Government of India had accorded approval to implement the transmission lines under Section 68 of the Electricity Act, 2003.

5. The Ministry of Power, Government of India conferred all powers under Section 164 of the Electricity Act, 2003 which the Telegraph authority possesses on the 1^st petitioner for which a notification was published in the Government of India Gazette dt.31.08.2018.

6. As part of the scheme, a 400 KV transmission line from Surjyamaninagar to Purba Kanchanbari was sought to be laid by the 1^st petitioner through the lands of the respondent Nos.1 to 3 herein in which there was a rubber plantation. According to the respondent Nos. 1 to 3 the age of the trees at the time of laying of the line was about 10 years.

7. Initially, a notice was served by the staff of the petitioners on the respondent Nos. 1 to 3 on 29.03.2019 stating that their proposed 440K