The Bombay High Court (Aurangabad Bench) dismissed a writ petition seeking enforcement of a modified compensation award under the National Highways Act, holding that the Competent Authority becomes functus officio after passing the original award and lacks jurisdiction to alter it.
The petitioners’ land was acquired for the four-laning of National Highway No. 211. An award dated August 4, 2016 granted compensation of ₹69.39 lakh, which the petitioners received. They also invoked arbitration under Section 3-G(5) of the National Highways Act, challenging the determination.
Subsequently, the Competent Authority issued a corrigendum on August 14, 2017, recalculating the compensation and granting an additional ₹18.34 lakh after removing the earlier belting system and applying a uniform rate. The petitioners approached the High Court seeking a direction to deposit this additional amount.
The National Highways Authority opposed the petition, arguing that once the original award was passed, the Competent Authority had no power to modify or correct it, and any grievance had to be pursued before the arbitrator.
The Division Bench referred to its earlier ruling which held that the Competent Authority under the National Highways Act does not have powers akin to Section 33 of the 2013 land acquisition law to correct or amend an award. Once the award is passed, the authority loses jurisdiction over the matter.
Distinguishing a prior case where a supplementary award was permitted for land not covered by the original award, the Court noted that in the present case, the entire land had already been dealt with in the 2016 award. The subsequent award merely recalculated compensation for the same land, which was impermissible.
Holding the modified award to be without jurisdiction and a nullity, the Court declined to direct its enforcement. It noted that the petitioners were not remediless as their challenge to the original award was already pending before the arbitrator. Accordingly, the writ petition was dismissed.
Appearances:
For the Petitioner : Mr. A.B. Kale, Advocate.
For Respondent No. 1 : Mr.A.V. Lavte, A.G.P.
For Respondent No. 2 : Mr. D.S. Manorkar, Advocate.
For Respondent No. 3 : Mr. U.B. Bondar, Advocate.
