WP(C) No. 443 of 2024 · High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh
Case at a glance
- Bench
- SANJAY DHAR
Outcome
Disposed of
In view of the above, the instant writ petition is disposed of with
Provisions considered
Key paragraphs
- Para 99. In view of the above, the instant writ petition is disposed of with direction to respondent No. 2 to consider the representation dated
Judgment
Through: Mr. Ratish Mahajan, Advocate vice Mr. Sunny Mahajan, Advocate for R-1 Ms. Nazia Fazal, Advocate vice Ms. Monika Kohli, Sr. AAG for R-2 Coram: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJAY DHAR, JUDGE
ORDER 02.03.2024 The petitioner claims that the land belonging to him situated at Village Meen Sarkar, Tehsil Bari Brahmana, District Samba has been acquired by respondent No. 1 for the purpose of widening of Delhi-Amritsar- Katra Expressway. It has been submitted that in the apportionment statement annexed to the final award, names of private respondents also figure, though they are not entitled to any compensation in respect of the acquired land and it is the petitioner only who is entitled to whole of the compensation.
Learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that in this regard the petitioner has already approached respondent No. 2 i.e. District
2 WP(C) No. 443/2024 CM No. 1072/2024, 1073/2024 Collector by way of representation dated 12.01.2024, but no decision is being taken by the said respondent on the said representation. Issue notice to the respondent Nos. 1 and 2 only at this stage. Mr. Ratish Mahajan, Advocate appearing vice Mr. Sunny Mahajan, Advocate accepts notice on behalf of respondent No. 1. Ms. Nazia Fazal, Advocate appearing vice Ms. Monika Kohli, learned Sr. AAG accepts notice on behalf of respondent No. 2. Heard and considered. Section 3H of the National Highways Act 1956, governs the deposit and payment of amount of compensation. Subsection (4) of the said section provides that
if any dispute arises as to the apportionment of the amount or any part thereof or to any person to whom the same or any part thereof is payable, the competent authority shall refer the dispute to the decision of the principal civil court of original jurisdiction within the limits of whose jurisdiction the land is situated
.
From a perusal of the aforesaid provision it is clear that once a dispute arises about entitlement of compensation awarded by the Collector, the Collector has to refer the said dispute to the decision of the principal civil court of original jurisdiction within whose limits or within whose jurisdiction the land in question is situated. Thus, it is the duty of respondent No. 2 to consider the representation of the petitioner whereby he has raised dispute about the entitlement of the private respondents to the compensation and to take a decision thereon in light 3 WP(C) No. 443/2024 CM No. 1072/2024, 1073/2024 of the provisions contained in Section 3H(4) of National Highways Act, 1956.
Operative part
In view of the above, the instant writ petition is disposed of with direction to respondent No. 2 to consider the representation dated
12.01.2024 submitted by the petitioner before him and take a decision thereon expeditiously in light of the provisions contained in Section 3H(4) of the National Highways Act, 1956.
Till such time, respondent No. 2 takes a decision on the representation stated to have been filed by the petitioner, no further amount of compensation in respect of the land which is the subject matter of the instant petition shall be released.
Disposed of. (SANJAY DHAR) JUDGE Jammu 02.03.2024 Sahil Padha Whether the order is speaking: Yes/No. Whether the order is reportable: Yes/No.
Precedent status how later indexed judgments have treated this case
No known negative treatment found in the Courts & Cases corpus.
This is a result about the indexed corpus, not a finding that the judgment remains good law. Coverage may be incomplete.