A single judge bench of the Justice R.C. Khulbe of Uttarakhand HC has disposed of the special appeal and directed to examine whether the application falls within the parameters of Section 33 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.
Facts:
The present special appeal is directed against the judgment dated 23.06.2022, passed by the learned Single Judge, in Writ Petition (M/S) No.1422 of 2022. The learned Single Judge allowed the writ petition with a direction to the respondent no.1, i.e. the Competent Authority Land Acquisition/ Special Land Acquisition Officer, Haridwar, District Haridwar, to decide the application moved by the respondent no.1 herein dated 13.06.2022, under Section 33 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (‘the Act of 2013’ for short), registered as Case No.164/2021-22, as expeditiously as possible, but not later than six weeks from the date of presentation of certified copy of the judgment.
The submission of the learned counsel for the appellant was that under the garb of moving an application styled as one under Section 33 of the Act of 2013, the respondent no.1 is, in fact, seeking a review of the award dated 25.03.2022, rendered by the Competent Authority Land Acquisition under Section 3(G) of the National Highways Act, 1956, under which acquisition was undertaken by the appellant.
Observations of the Court:
The court observed that a perusal of the impugned order shows that the learned Single Judge has relied upon the judgment of the Supreme Court in “Union of India & another vs. Tarsem Singh & others, (2019) 9 SCC 304”, to conclude that an application under Section 33 of the Act of 2013 is maintainable in respect of acquisition undertaken under the National Highways Act, 1956, since the National Highways Act is enumerated in the fourth Schedule to the Act of 2013 at Entry No.7.
Therefore, they directed Competent Authority Land Acquisition shall to examine whether the application dated 13.06.2022 moved by the respondent no.1 herein squarely falls within the parameters of Section 33 of the Act of 2013 in the light of the objections raise by the appellant, and only if the Competent Authority Land Acquisition concludes that the application squarely falls within the parameters set out under Section 33 of the Act of 2013- by a reasoned order, it shall proceed to examine the application on its merits.
Decision:
The special appeal disposed of for being devoid of any merit for call for interference and directed the respondent to examine whether the application falls within the parameters of section 33 of the act.
Case: Government of India, through Director, Indian National Highway Authority vs Keshav Kumar Saini and another
Citation: SPECIAL APPEAL NO. 283 OF 2022
Coram: Justice R.C. Khulbe
Dated: 03.11.2022
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