IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA CWP No.14080 of 2026 Decided on: 18 August, 2026 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Madan Gopal …..Petitioner Versus National Highways Authority of India and others .....Respondents ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Coram Ms. Justice Jyotsna Rewal Dua Whether approved for reporting?1 For the Petitioner: Mr. Mohit Dogra, Advocate. For the Respondents: Ms. Shreya Chauhan, Advocate, for respondent No.1. Mr. Anup Rattan, Advocate General with Mr. L.N. Sharma, Additional Advocate General, for respondent No.2. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jyotsna Rewal Dua, Judge Notice confined to respondents No.1 and 2, which is waived by Ms. Shreya Chauhan, learned counsel and Mr. L.N. Sharma, learned Additional Advocate General, respectively. 2. In view of the grievance raised in the writ petition and the order being passed hereinafter, there is no necessity to issue notice to respondent No.3. Reply is also 1Whether reporters of print and electronic media may be allowed to see the order? Yes. 2 not required to be called for from the appearing respondents. Matter has accordingly been heard at this stage. 3. The case set up by the petitioner is that the petitioner and other co-owners had agreed to give their land for dumping the soil excavated during construction of NH-05 at Rs.150/- per dumper; At the relevant time, respondents No.1 and 3 had agreed for constructing the retaining walls and drains on the spot/site for protecting the land in question; On 12.10.2019, co-owners of the land in question (except the petitioner) were served with the termination letter, whereby the agreement executed between the parties was unilaterally terminated by respondent No.3. Petitioner alleges that respondent No.3 left the dumping site in utter mess and has damaged the land in question; Respondent No.3 has also dumped the material over adjoining land co-owned by the petitioner without his consent or knowledge in an illegal manner. Petitioner seeks compensation for the damages caused to his land. The substantive reliefs prayed for in this writ petition are as under:- “i) That the respondent no.2 may be directed to constitute “Outside RoW” committee in view of Notification dated 08.06.2020 (Annexure P-6) to redress the petitioner’s 3 grievances by the committee constituted in time bound manner. ii) That the Respondent no.1 & 3 may be directed to honor and execute the terms of Agreement dated 04.09.2020 (Annexure P-4) and further to compensate the petitioner for damage of Rs.10 Lac sustained due to loss of agricultural produce and damage to agricultural fields of petitioner.” 4. Learned counsel for the petitioner drew attention to a notification dated 08.06.2020 (Annexure P-6), whereby the State of Himachal Pradesh has constituted a Committee for resolving and sorting out issues including the issue of assessing the damages occurred to private land, buildings and structures beyond the Right of Way (RoW) due to construction of four laning projects of respondent No.1 in the State of Himachal Pradesh. Learned counsel also submits that the petitioner has already represented to the Deputy Commissioner, Solan, who is the Chairman of the aforesaid committee for District Solan, for redressing his grievance, however, the representation (Annexure P-5) has not as yet yielded any response. Learned counsel further submitted that the petitioner would be satisfied in case the aforesaid committee is directed to consider and decide the representation of the petitioner (Annexure P-5) in accordance with law within a 4 fixed time schedule. Learned counsel appearing for the respondents are not averse to this prayer. 5. In view of above submissions and the pleadings, but without adverting to the merits of the matter, this writ petition is disposed of with direction to the Committee constituted under notification dated 08.06.2020 (Annexure P-6) to examine the aforesaid representation of the petitioner dated 28.02.2026 (Annexure P-5) in accordance with law and pass appropriate orders within a period of six weeks from today. During the process of considering the aforesaid representation, the petitioner, respondent No.3 and all other stakeholders shall also be given reasonable opportunity of hearing. The decision so arrived at shall also be communicated to the petitioner. The writ petition stands disposed of in the above terms, so also the pending miscellaneous application(s), if any. Jyotsna Rewal Dua August 18, 2026 Judge Mukesh