SC orders Himachal Govt to pay Rs 3.05 crore compensation to 6 land owners in Solan
The Supreme Court has directed the Himachal Pradesh Government to pay a compensation of more than Rs 3.05 crore to six land owners whose land in Solan district was acquired to provide a safety zone for a cement plant and mining areas.
A Bench led by Justice JB Pardiwala ordered that the Rs 3,05,31,095/ crore compensation has to be paid along with 9% interest from the date of passing of the Supplementary Award on May 2, 2022 till the date of realization, within a period of fifteen days.
The Bench – which also included Justice Manoj Misra – said the total amount paid by the State of Himachal Pradesh shall be recovered from M/s Jaiprakash Associates Limited (JAL).
“We regret to note that the amount of Rs 3,05,31,095 determined as compensation under the supplementary award has not been paid to the land owners for a period of more than two years and the state of Himachal Pradesh as a welfare state has made no effort to get the same paid at the earliest,” a Bench led by Justice JB Pardiwala said.
The Bench noted that even before the amount of compensation could be determined by way of a supplementary award as stipulated in the Award dated June 8,, 2018, the land in question stood transferred to JAL.
“This, in our view, is in contravention of Section 38 of the 2013 (Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement) Act and Section 41 of the 1894 (Land Acquisition) Act respectively,” the Bench said on Friday.
The Himachal Pradesh Government had issued a notification on July 25, 2008 under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 through its Department of Industries declaring its intention to acquire the subject land admeasuring 56-14 bigha, situated at Mauza Bhalag, Tehsil Arki, District Solan in favour of Jaypee Himachal Cement project, a unit of JAL, invoking the urgency clause under Section 17 of the 1894 Act.
The acquisition proceedings were challenged by some of the landowners before the Himachal Pradesh High Court which directed the firm to pay the requisite amount towards compensation as determined in the supplementary award of May 2, 2022 passed by the Land Acquisition Collector, Arki, with liberty to recover the same from M/s Jaiprakash Associates Limited (JAL), if permissible under the legal relationship between the two entities.
The top court’s verdict came on an appeal filed by M/s UltraTech Cement Ltd arising out of the Himachal Pradesh High Court’s July 12, 2022 order on the dispute.
The delay in payment of compensation to the land owners after taking away ownership of the land from them was in contravention to the spirit of the constitutional scheme of Article 300A and the idea of a welfare state, the top court said. Article 300-A mandates that, “No person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law”.
The Bench said, “The state government, in peculiar circumstances, was expected to make the requisite payment towards compensation to the land owners from its own treasury and should have thereafter proceeded to recover the same from JAL.”
“Instead of making the poor land owners run after the powerful corporate houses, it (HP Government) should have compelled JAL to make the necessary payment… It is regrettable that the state of Himachal Pradesh, being a welfare state, did not ensure payment of compensation to the respondent nos. 1-6 before taking possession of their land,” the top court said.
