Construction Of National Highway Policy Decision, Not For Court To Intervene In Such Matters: J&K HC

The Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) High Court has dismissed a petition that challenged a government land acquisition for the construction of a new national highway.

The petition challenged government land acquisition on the ground that there is no need for constructing a new national highway as there already exists a highway which can be repaired and widened.

Asserting that such matters fall under policy decision, the high court bench of Justices Moksha Khajuria Kazmi and Pankaj Mithal said that it is not for the court to intervene in these issues.

“The submission that there is no need for constructing a new national highway as there already exists a highway which can be repaired and widened, it may be pertinent to mention that the construction of a national highway is a policy decision, which is taken on the opinion of the experts,” the two-judge division bench said, reports Live Law.

The bench added, “It is not for this Court to intervene in such matters on the simple saying of the petitioners that such road or a highway is not needed.”

The petitioner had move the HC seeking direction to the government authorities to widen the existing national highways rather than building a new road.

On the other hand, the respondents - J&K government and others - categorically stated that since the land was needed for the public purpose of construction of the national highway, it was acquired in accordance with the provisions of the National Highway Act, 1956.

One of the petitioners has even accepted the compensation as per the award declared.

"In the absence of any challenge of the acquisition proceedings whether either under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement, Act 2013 or the National Highway Act, we are of the view that he petitioners are not entitled to any relief," the Court noted.

"The submission of the counsel for the petitioners’ that in the garb of the aforesaid acquisition, respondents are encroaching upon their land which has not been acquired. This submission cannot be accepted as this Court in exercise of discretionary jurisdiction is not competent enough to decide the matter regarding encroachment of any land. The petitioners may take recourse to the appropriate legal remedy in this regard as may be advised to them in law," the Court said.

In view of the aforesaid facts and circumstances, the Court found no merit in the petition and dismissed it.