Chittaranjan Baruah v. The Union of India and 8 Ors

ORDER Date : 01-04-2024

Heard Mr. AK Baruah, learned counsel for the petitioner as well as Ms. R. Devi, learned CGC appearing for the respondent nos.1 and 2 and Mr. C. Baruah, learned standing counsel for the respondent nos.3 to 6 as well as Ms. N. Bordoloi, learned standing counsel for the respondent no.7 and Mr. B. Goswami, Page No.# 3/5 learned Addl. Advocate General for the State along with Mr. P. Kakati, learned counsel for the respondent nos.8 and 9.

¶2The petitioner has stated that he is the owner of a plot of land measuring 3 Bighas 2 Kathas 5 Lessas, covered by Dag no. 204 & K.P. Patta no. 147, situate at Village – Pachaniya Para, Mouza – Dakshin Rani, Azara Revenue Circle ['the subject-plot', for short], which he had purchased by way of a registered Sale Deed on 11.08.1996 [Annexure-B]. The subject-plot has been mutated in favour of the petitioner by a mutation order and the said fact is reflected in the Jamabandi of Village – Pachaniya Para. Pursuant to an application for conversion of the class, the class of the subject-plot has been reclassified from agricultural land to non-agricultural land in the year 2022 and the petitioner has deposited the requisite premium amount for such reclassification.

¶3It has been projected that the respondent NHIDCL has been given the project to construct the National Highway no. 17 falling within the stretch of land from K.M. 197.84 to K.M. 200.750 in the district of Kamrup Metro. For the purpose of construction of National Highway no. 17, the Central Government in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had initiated a land acquisition process under the provisions of the National Highways Act, 1956. For the purpose of land acquisition, Notifications under Section 3A and Section 3D have also been issued on different dates. In the said Notifications under Section 3A and Section 3D, the subject-plot did not figure. Yet, the respondent authorities in the NHIDCL has, on and from 14.12.2023, entered upon the subject-plot and started the activities for construction of National Highway no. 17. Aggrieved thereby, the petitioner has preferred the instant writ petition, with the prayer Page No.# 4/5 either to acquire the subject-plot by following the provisions of the National Highways Act or to exempt the subject-plot from the said acquisition process.

¶4The learned Addl. Advocate General for the State has referred to the order dated 15.03.2024 and has submitted that he had produced a copy of instructions dated 08.03.2024 along with a copy of the Gazette of India dated

16.02.2024, which contains a notification under S.O.752(E) dated 16.02.2024, issued by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways by virtue of which the land of the petitioner measuring 0.3451 hectares covered by Dag no.204 of KP Patta no.147 covered by village Pachaniya Para, Mouza Dakshin Rani, Azara Revenue was to be acquired, with or without structure, falling within NH-17.

¶5At this stage, the learned standing counsel for the NHAI and NHIDCL have submitted that as and when the Competent Authority for Land Acquisition

(CALA) makes an assessment and provides it to the executing agencies like NHAI and NHIDCL, only thereafter the payment for compensation would be released.

¶6It is noted from the pleadings made in this writ petition that in this case the construction activity for NH-17 had already commenced over the land of the petitioner and the petitioner had approached this Court at that stage, and this Court while issuing notice by order dated 18.12.2023, this Court had restrained carrying out of any construction activities in connection with NH-17 on or over or within the subject-plot belonging to the petitioner.

¶7It is observed from the Gazette notification appearing in the Gazette of India dated 16.02.2024 that as on the date of the said notification the competent authority had only exercised powers conferred by sub-section (1) of Page No.# 5/5 section 3D of the National Highway Act, 1956 and the Central Government had declared that the land of the petitioner described in Schedule thereto should be acquired. Therefore, by sub-section (2) of section 3D of the said Act, on publication of the notification the scheduled land vests absolutely in the Central Govt., free from all encumbrances. Therefore, in order to take possession, the competent authority has to comply with the requirement of section 3(E) as well as section 3(F) of the National Highway Act, 1956. Therefore, now there appears to exist no impediment for the Addl. District Commissioner, In-charge Land Acquisition, Competent Authority for Land Acquisition (CALA) to do the needful so as to expedite the process of land acquisition compensation to be payable to the petitioner in respect of the land acquisition.

¶8We hope and trust that CALA will do the needful within a period of 2(two) months from the date of receipt of certified copy of the order.

¶9The petitioner shall also provide his e-mail address to the CALA so as to enable the said authority to make communication to the petitioner.

¶10The interim order passed earlier stands merged with this order.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/5 GAHC010285902023 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/7364/2023o CHITTARANJANoBARUAHo SONoOFoLATEoBASANToKR.oBARUAH,oADDRESS-oHOUSEoNO.o18,oJEUTIo PATH,oRUKMINIGAON,oP.O.oKHANAPARA,oP.S.oDISPUR,oDISTRICT-oKAMRUP (M),oPIN-o781022 VERSUSo THEoUNIONoOFoINDIAoANDo8oORSo REPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoSECRETARY,oMINISTRYoOFoROADoTRANSPORTo ANDoHIGHWAY,oHAVINGoITSoOFFICEoAToTRANSPORToBHAWAN,o1,o PARLIAMENToSTREET,oNEWoDELHI-o110001 2:THEoSECRETARY oMINISTRYoOFoROADoTRANSPORToANDoHIGHWAY oTRANSPORToBHAWAN o1 oPARLIAMENToSTREET oNEWoDELHI-o110001 3:THEoNATIONALoHIGHWAYSoAUTHORITYoOFoINDIA oGo5oANDo6 oSECTORo10 oDWARKA oNEWoDELHI-o110075 oREPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoCHAIRMAN 4:THEoREGIONALoMANAGERoNORTHoEASTERNoREGION oTHEoNATIONALoHIGHWAYSoAUTHORITYoOFoINDIA oNEDFIoHOUSE oDISPUR oGUWAHATI-o781006 Page No.# 2/5 5:THE NATIONAL HIGHWAYS AND INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION LTD. PARLIAMENT STREET NEW DELHI- 110001 REPRESENTED BY THE MANAGING DIRECTOR 6:THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (P) CUM HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATOR NATIONAL HIGHWAYS AND INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION LTD 2ND FLOOR AGNISHANTI BUSINESS PARK (OPP. AGP OFFICE) GNB ROAD AMBARI GUWAHATI- 781001 7:THE COMMISSIONER AND SECRETARY REVENUE REGISTRATION AND D.M. DEPARTMENT DISPUR GUWAHATI- 781006 8:THE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER KAMRUP (METRO) 9:THE CIRCLE OFFICER AZARA REVENUE CIRCL Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. B K MAHAJAN Advocate for the Respondent : GA, ASSAM BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE KALYAN RAI SURANA