The Delhi High Court has disposed of a writ petition concerning non-reference of a land acquisition dispute to arbitration under Section 3G(5) of the National Highways Act, 1956, observing that the statutory mechanism prescribed under the special enactment cannot be bypassed by invoking Section 11(6) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996.
The petition arose from the grievance of the petitioner that despite repeated requests for reference of its dispute relating to compensation proceedings, the Competent Authority for Land Acquisition (CALA) had failed to make the statutory reference to arbitration as contemplated under Section 3G(5) of the 1956 Act.
Hearing the matter, the Bench of Justice Prathiba M. Singh and Justice Madhu Jain observed that the power to appoint an arbitrator under the National Highways Act vests exclusively with the Central Government and forms part of a self-contained statutory scheme. The Court noted the settled legal position that where a special law provides a specific mechanism for appointment, recourse to Section 11(6) of the 1996 Act would ordinarily be excluded.
It was also submitted that the question regarding the applicability of Section 12(5) of the 1996 Act to such appointments is presently pending consideration before the Supreme Court, and that arbitrations under the Act are being conducted by the Special Secretary in accordance with the prevailing framework.
Taking note of the submission that the post of Special Secretary had since been filled, the Court directed the CALA to make the reference to arbitration within 30 days. The petitioner was further directed to formally communicate a copy of the order to the concerned authority within one week.
With these directions, the writ petition along with pending applications was disposed of.
Appearance:
Advocate Harshit Batra and Advocate Tanya Karnwal for the petitioner
Senior Central Govt. Counsel Advocate Niraj Kumar and Advocate Chaitanya Kumar for Respondent 1
SC Adcocate Sanjay Kumar Pathak with Advocate Sunil Kumar Jha and Advocate Mohd Sueb Akhtar for LAC
