Suraj Kumar and 35 Others v. National Highway Authority of India and 2 Others

HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD WRIT - C No. - 33895 of 2025 Court No. - 29 HON'BLE MAHESH CHANDRA TRIPATHI, J. HON'BLE KUNAL RAVI SINGH, J.

¶1Heard learned counsel for the petitioners, Mr. Ambrish Shukla, learned Additional Chief Standing Counsel for the State-respondents, Mr. Dinkar Lal, learned counsel for the respondent no.1-N.H.A.I. and perused the record.

¶2By means of the instant petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, petitioners are praying for commanding respondent No. 3 to consider the claim of the petitioners in accordance with law and provide the benefits of the rehabilitation and resettlement scheme under Second Schedule of Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency In Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation And Resettlement Act, 2013.

¶3Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that qua the acquired land and its assets mentioned in the present writ petition, respondent No. 3 has passed an award, and all the petitioners have received the compensation as awarded for the said land and assets. However, it has further been asserted that the rehabilitation and resettlement award, as mandated under the Second Schedule of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, has not been ensured.

¶4After arguing at some length, learned counsel for the petitioners in support of his submissions has placed reliance upon the judgment and order dated

19.9.2024 passed by a Division Bench of this Court in WRIT - C No. - 29852 of 2024 (Shakuntala Devi and 12 Others Vs. State of U.P. and 4 Versus Counsel for Petitioner(s) : Shachindra Kumar Mishra Counsel for Respondent(s) : C.S.C., Mahendra Pratap Suraj Kumar And 35 Others .....Petitioner(s) National Highway Authority Of India And 2 Others .....Respondent(s) Others), wherein, in similar circumstances the petitioners have approached to this Court and the writ petition was disposed of asking the Competent Authority under National Highways Act, 1956 to proceed with the exercise of examining the claims pertaining to rehabilitation and resettlement and take decision on the said aspect having regard to the provisions of Chapter V of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. For ready reference, the order dated 19.9.2024 is reproduced herein as under:- "1. The case of the petitioners is that their land was acquired by the NHAI under the provisions of National Highways Act, 1956 and an award was also made. The petitioners have received compensation but the rehabilitation and resettlement award has not been made as per the Second Schedule to the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. It has, therefore, been prayed that the respondents be directed to make rehabilitation and resettlement award as per provisions of the Act, 2013.

¶2Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the claim of the petitioners is similar to the one raised in Writ C No.2782 of 2023 (Ashok Kumar and 8 others vs. National Highway Authority of India and 3 others), which was disposed of by this Court, by order dated 24.2.2023 in terms of the order passed in Writ C No.21601 of 2022 (Ranvir Singh and 35 others vs. National Highway Authority of India and Competent Authority For Land Acquisition and Others). The operative part of the order passed in Writ C No.2782 of 2023 (Ashok Kumar and 8 others vs. National Highway Authority of India and 3 others), dated 24.2.2023 is as follows :- "9. Lastly the writ petitions have been disposed of with the following directions:- "For the above, without entering into the merits of the claim of the petitioner, it is directed that the competent authority under the National Highways Act, 1956 shall prepare a proposal for the rehabilitation and resettlement award for affected families, within the meaning of Section 3(c) of the Act, 2013, in terms of the entitlements provided in the Second Schedule, with the assistance of the officers of the NHAI and submit the same before the Collector for making award in accordance with the provisions of Section 31 of the RECTLARR Act, 2013. For preparation of the said proposal, the competent authority shall make necessary enquiry as per the provisions of the Sections 34, 35 and 36 of the RECTLARR Act, 2013 as contained in Chapter V of the Act, 2013, i.e before preparation of the rehabilitation and resettlement award, in relation to the acquisition in question. It goes without saying that the representatives of the National Highways Authority and the affected tenure holders are entitled to participate in the proceedings for preparation of the award. The claim of the petitioners herein for the entitlements under the Second Schedule at serial no. (1) for provision of housing unit in case of displacement; serial no. (4) choice of annuity and employment and serial no. (10), one time resettlement allowance, shall be specifically considered by the competent authority in making such an award. The entire exercise shall be completed, as expeditious as possible, preferably, within a period of six months from the date of receipt of copy of this order. We may make it clear that, at this stage, no direction has been given for providing benefits of Third Schedule as no such demand has been raised by the petitioners herein. In any case, while making such an award, independent consideration shall be given to the elements of rehabilitation and resettlement entitlements for the affected families provided in the Second Schedule, without being influenced by any of the observations made hereinabove."

¶10The petitioners herein are similarly situated and, therefore, are entitled for the same relief.

¶11The present writ petition is, accordingly, disposed of."

¶5It is submitted on behalf of the petitioners that the instant petition be also disposed of in same terms.

¶6Learned counsel appearing on behalf of N.H.A.I., and learned Additional Chief Standing Counsel appearing for the State-respondents do not dispute that the claim of the petitioners is identical, however, they submit that in the matters arising out of acquisition made under the provisions of National Highways Act, 1956, it is the Competent Authority notified by the Central Government, who is competent to declare the award and not the Collector of the district concerned and they submit that this aspect may be clarified by this Court.

¶7This Court, recently, while deciding Writ C No. 13489 of 2024 (Rampal Singh and 12 others vs National Highway Authority of India and 2 others) by order dated 24.04.2024, considered identical submission made on behalf of N.H.A.I. and observed as under: "6. Section 23 read with Section 31 of the Act, 2013 empowers the Collector to pass rehabilitation and resettlement award for each affected family in terms of the entitlements provided in the second schedule. Under Section 3(g) of the Act, 2013 the Collector has been defined thus:- "(g) Collector means the Collector of a revenue district, and includes a Deputy Commissioner and any officer specially designated by the appropriate Government to perform the functions of a Collector under this Act;"

¶7It is evident from the definition of Collector that it includes any Officer specially designated by the appropriate Government to perform the functions of the Collector under the said Act.

¶8In NH Act, the power to declare award is conferred upon the competent authority under Section 3G. The competent authority has been defined under Section 3(a) of the Act of 1956 as follows:- "(a) "competent authority" means any person or authority authorised by the Central Government, by notification in the Official Gazette, to perform the functions of the competent authority for such area as may be specified in the notification;"

¶9It is not disputed that the Central Government had issued notification on 28.08.2015 under Section 105(3) of the Act, 2013 directing that the provisions relating to the second and third schedule shall apply to all cases of land acquisitions under the enactments specified in the fourth schedule to the said Act. The effect of said notification is to extend the beneficial provisions of the Act, 2013 to the acquisitions made under the NH Act. However, the machinery provided for holding enquiry and determining compensation does not get altered. The same is still to be done in the manner and by the authority stipulated under the Statutes under which acquisition was done. We, therefore, find force in the submission of learned counsel for NHAI that in matters relating to acquisitions under NH Act, it would be the competent authority, as defined under Section 3(a) of NH Act, which would be empowered to examine the claims pertaining to rehabilitation and resettlement and make award accordingly and not the Collector of the district."

¶6In view of above, the instant petition stands disposed of with direction to the Competent Authority under National Highways Act, 1956 to proceed with the exercise of examining the claims pertaining to rehabilitation and resettlement and take decision on the said aspect having regard to the provisions of Chapter V of the Act, 2013 within twelve weeks from the date of communication of the instant order."

¶8In this backdrop, learned counsel for the petitioners submits that present matter is squarely covered by judgement and order dated 19.09.2024 passed in Shakuntala Devi (supra) and accordingly, the present petition may also be disposed of in terms of the aforementioned writ petition.

¶9So far as the factual and legal controversy, the same is not disputed by learned counsel for the contesting-respondents.

¶10Considering the judgement and order dated 19.09.2024 passed by this Court, we are with the respectful agreement of the judgement and order dated 19.09.2024. Accordingly, the present petition stands disposed of in terms of the aforementioned judgement passed in Shakuntala Devi (supra). October 8, 2025 Sumit S (Kunal Ravi Singh,J.) (Mahesh Chandra Tripathi,J.) High Court of Judicature at Allahabad