Supreme Court: highway land compensation fixed before 1 January 2015 gets solatium under the 1894 Act

The Supreme Court decided whether solatium, interest and interest on solatium for land acquired under the National Highways Act, 1956 should be computed under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 or the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. The landowner relied on the Tarsem Singh decisions, which extended these benefits to National Highways Act acquisitions. The Court noted that the 2013 Act took effect on 1 January 2014, but Section 105 postponed its benefits for acquisitions under the enactments in its Fourth Schedule, including the National Highways Act, by one year; they became applicable from 1 January 2015. Relying on the Constitution Bench in Indore Development Authority v. Manoharlal, it held that the governing law depends on when the award is made.

Accordingly, if the competent authority under the National Highways Act determined compensation before 1 January 2015, solatium and interest are payable under the 1894 Act; if not, the 2013 Act applies. Here the compensation was determined on 11 July 2014, so the 1894 Act governed. The Court rejected reliance on a ministry notification because it spoke of land holdings, not landowners. The appeal was allowed in part, and the matter was sent back for computation of solatium and interest under the 1894 Act.