Page No. 1/5 GAHC010050482025 2025:GAU-AS:3063 THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT (HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH) Case No. : WP(C)/1505/2025 DARANGGIRI ANCHALIC UNNAYAN SAMMIITTEE REPRESENTED BY ITS PRESIDENT , SITUATED AT VILLAGE-TARAPARA, P.S. MOUZA DUDHNOI, P.O.- DARANGGIRI, DIST GOALPARA, ASSAM, PIN 783134 VERSUS THE UNION OF INDIA AND ORS REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY TO THE MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS, GOVERNMENTOF INDIA, PIN- 110001 2:THE NATIONAL HIGHWAY AND INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION LTD A PUBLIC SECTOR 4 UNDERTAKING BELONGING TO THE GOVT. OF INDIA SITUATED AT 3D FLOOR PTI BUILDING 4 PARLIAMENT STREET NEW DELHI PIN- 110001 REPRESENTED BY ITS MANAGING DIRECTOR 3:THE STATE OF ASSAM REPRESENTED BY ITS COMMISSIONER AND SECRETARY REVENUE DEPARTMENT DISPUR GUWAHATI-5 4:THE DISTRICT COMMISSIONER GOALPARA GOALPARA ASSAM PIN-783121 5:ADDITIONAL DISTRITC COMMISSIONER Page No. 2/5 (CALA I.E. COMPETENT AUTHORITY FOR LAND ACQUISITION) GOALPARA ASSAM PIN- 783121 6:THE CIRCLE OFFICER DUDHNOI REVENUE CIRCLE DIST-GOALPARA ASSAM PIN- 78312 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. P THAKURIA, S MEDHI,ABHIJIT PATOR,MR G KAKOTI,J SHARMA Advocate for the Respondent : DY.S.G.I., SC. REVENUE,GA, ASSAM BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MANISH CHOUDHURY ORDER Date : 19.03.2025 Heard Mr. P. Thakuria, learned counsel for the petitioner; Mr. C. Baruah, learned Standing Counsel, NHIDCL for the respondent nos. 1 & 2; Mr. A. Bhattacharjee, learned Standing Counsel, Revenue Department for the respondent no. 3; and Ms. S. Konwar, learned Junior Government Advocate, Assam for the respondent nos. 4, 5 & 6. 2. The petitioner is a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1960 and in this writ petition, it is represented by its President. 3. It is the case of the petitioner society that it owns a plot of land measuring 1 Katha 5 Lessas [3600 sq. ft.], covered by Dag no. 690 & K.P. Patta no. 338, situate at Village - Tarapara, Mouza - Dudhnoi, Dudhnoi Revenue Circle, District - Goalpara ['the subject-plot no. 1', for short]. It is also the case of the petitioner that in addition to the subject-plot no. 1, the petitioner society is in occupation of another parcel of land, measuring 0.0199 hectares & covered by Government Dag no. 217 [‘the subject-plot no. 2’, for short], which is adjacent to the subject-plot no. 1. The petitioner society has claimed that it is in possession of the subject-plot no. 2 for about thirty-five years. The petitioner society has also constructed a Page No. 3/5 two-storied RCC Building on the subject-plot no. 1 and the subject-plot no. 2. The petitioner society has constructed a number of shop rooms in the ground floor of the said two-storied RCC Building, which the petitioner society has rented out to different tenants. Moreover, a Branch of Assam Gramin Vikash Bank is also operating from the first floor of the RCC building, which the Bank has taken on lease. 4. The Government of India [GoI] in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways [MoRT&H] in exercise of the powers conferred under the National Highways Act, 1956 [‘the N.H. Act’] has undertaken a project, ‘Construction of 4 laning from Paikan to Dhupdhara [PKG-8] NH-17 in the stretch of land from Design Km 96+000 to Km 139+750 in the district of Goalpara’ [‘the Project’, for short] and for the purpose of acquiring lands for the Project, a case, Land Acquisition Case no. 01/2021-2022 has been registered. It is stated that after issuance of Notification under Section 3A to Section 3D of the N.H. Act, the respondent authorities have determined the compensations to be paid in respect of the parcels of lands acquired for the Project. In the process of land acquisition, the subject-plot no. 2 measuring 0.0199 Hectares, covered by Government Dag no. 217, had also come under the purview of Land Acquisition Case no. 01/2021-2022 and the petitioner society had been served with a Notice dated 25.09.2023 by the respondent no. 5 in his capacity as the Competent Authority, Land Acquisition [CALA], appointed under Section 3[a] of the N.H. Act. By the said Notice, the petitioner society was informed that a total amount of Rs. 21,76,489/- had been assessed as zirat compensation towards the 2-storied RCC Building and other structures standing on the subject-plot no. 2. 5. The petitioner society has contended in this writ petition that the respondent no. 4, that is, the Competent Authority, Land Acquisition [CALA] while assessing the compensation towards zirat, etc. on the subject-plot no. 2, has not properly considered the market value of the landed properties. According to the petitioner society, had the Competent Authority, Land Acquisition [CALA] assessed the market value of the subject-plots and the two-storied RCC Building properly, the compensation amount should have been reasonably assessed at Rs. 5.00 crores [approx.]. The petitioner society has made such claim on the basis of a valuation report received from a Chartered Engineer, who assessed the valuation of the two-storied Page No. 4/5 RCC Building at Rs. 56,45,200/-. 6. Mr. Baruah, learned Standing Counsel, NHIDCL; Mr. Bhattacharjee, learned Standing Counsel, Revenue Department; and Ms. Konwar, learned Junior Government Advocate, Assam have, in unison, submitted that the process of land acquisition has since crossed the stage of Award under Section 3G[1] and the petitioner society has already received the compensation determined by the Competent Authority, Land Acquisition [CALA], may be with the protest or without protest. They have further submitted that the claim of the petitioner society is only with regard to inadequacy of the compensation amount. It is, thus, submitted by them that any claim of inadequacy and/or for enhancement of the compensation amount, already assessed under Section 3G[1] by the Competent Authority, Land Acquisition [CALA] can be made by the petitioner society only before the Arbitrator appointed under sub-section [5] of Section 3G of the N.H. Act. 7. Having heard the learned counsel for the parties, it is found that the issue raised in this writ petition by the petitioner society is limited in nature in that the petitioner society is aggrieved by the amount of compensation determined by the Competent Authority, Land Acquisition [CALA] under Section 3G[1] of the N.H. Act, 1956 which, according to it, is inadequate. It is the contention of the petitioner society that while assessing the compensation, the relevant factors have not taken into consideration. 8. It is submitted at the Bar that by an Order dated 06.03.2025, issued under the hand of the Principal Secretary to the Government of Assam, Revenue & Disaster Management Department, the presently Secretary to the Government of Assam, Revenue & Disaster Management Department [Smti. Meenakshi Das Nath] has been appointed as an Arbitrator in terms of sub-section [5] of Section 3G of the N.H. Act, 1956 with immediate effect and until further order. A copy of the said Order is also placed before this Court. 9. As the grievances raised by the petitioner in this writ petition can be examined and considered by the Arbitrator so appointed under Section 3G[5] of the N.H. Act, 1956, this Court is of the considered view that the petitioner shall approach the Arbitrator by submitting Page No. 5/5 an application before the said authority along with all the supporting documents in support of its claim for enhancement of the compensation amount at the earliest. It is further observed that in the event any such application is preferred by the petitioner society before the Arbitrator so appointed, the Arbitrator shall consider and dispose of the application as expeditiously as possible. The official respondents who are in custody and possession of the relevant records of land acquisition in respect of the subject-plot[s] belonging to the petitioner society and/or under occupation of the petitioner society, and for the Project under reference, shall transmit the relevant records to the office of the Arbitrator so as to facilitate the Arbitrator to dispose of the application by taking into consideration the factors delineated in sub-section [6] and sub-section [7] of Section 3G and following the procedure mentioned in sub-section [6] of Section 3G of the N.H. Act in an expeditious manner. 10. With the observation made and direction given above, the writ petition is disposed of. There shall, however, be no order as to cost. JUDGE Comparing Assistant