NHAI best judge for decision on new highways land acquisition: SC

The Supreme Court has observed that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) can be said to be the best judge to decide which land to be acquired and which not to be acquired for new Highways construction.

The bench of Justices M R Shah and Aniruddha Bose was hearing the SLPs against the April 2022 judgement of the Division Bench of the Telangana High Court whereby it permitted NHAI's writ appeal challenging the April 2018 decision of the Single Bench disposing of the writ petition that opposed the action of the NHAI in acquiring the whole lands of the writ petitioners for four laning of NH 161, allegedly without acquiring other lands as per the plan allegedly received by the qualified authority for road widening.

The Single Bench had permitted that the NHAI may proceed with the acquisition by the said plan. By its judgement of April 2022, impugned in the present SLP, the Division Bench had also permitted a second writ appeal by which the NHAI had challenged the November 2021 judgement of the Single Bench to dismiss its review petition against the 2018 decision.

In the impugned judgement of April 22, 2022, the High Court Division Bench recorded that the basic goal of the writ petitioners was to the acquisition of their land under the National Highways Act, 1956; that according to the petitioners, their land was not needed to be acquired and another land should have been acquired in equal proportion from both sides; and that there was a variation from the original plan.

The High Court Division Bench had observed that the National Highways Act, 1956 lays down the process for land acquisition for the laying of national highways, including the award of compensation. Writ petitioners have their solution thereunder. Since land acquisition is for four laning of the national highway, which is of public interest, the High Court interference under Article 226 of the Constitution of India would not be explained.

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