The Supreme Court has agreed to review its September 2019 ruling that the National Highways Authority of India must pay solatium and interest to thousands of landowners whose plots were acquired between 1997 and September 2019 for the construction of highways.
The nod to the review came after the government pleaded that it would inflict a burden of ₹32,000 crore on the exchequer.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan decided to examine the review plea in an open court after solicitor-general Tushar Mehta submitted that a modification of the judgment that applied the liability with retrospective effect would not only lead to a barrage of pleas to reopen decades-old cases, but also impose a huge liability of ₹32,000 crore on the Centre and the NHAI.
Mehta sought to clarify that contrary to the earlier assessment that the liability could be around ₹100 crore, the latest estimates had revealed that it would be a staggering ₹32,000 crore.
“Application for oral hearing is allowed. Delay condoned. Issue notices returnable on 11.11.2025 at 03.00pm,” the bench said.
The apex court’s decision to reconsider the plea on only prospective application of the 2019 judgment is a relief for the Centre, which had on February 5 suffered a huge setback after the court dismissed the NHAI’s plea for avoiding payment of solatium and interest to thousands of landowners across the country from 1997 till September 18, 2019.
The Centre wanted the judgment to be applied with prospective effect, which means the solatium and interests were to be paid for cases filed after September 19, 2019.
The September 2019 judgment was passed in the Union of India vs Tarsem Singh and others case, which had ruled that landowners across the country are entitled to solatium and interest on plots acquired by the NHAI.
This was because under both the original Land Acquisition Act, 1894, and the amended Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, owners whose land is acquired for public purposes are entitled to solatium and interest apart from the regular compensation.
However, the National Highways Laws (Amendment) Act, 1997, carved out an exception through Section 3J by excluding the payment of solatium and interest for land acquired by the NHAI. This amendment was quashed by the Supreme Court as being unconstitutional in the September 19, 2019, judgment.
The Centre argued that the judgment had triggered a chain reaction of writ
petitions being filed across various high courts by aggrieved landowners whose plots had been acquired by the NHAI between 1997 and 2019 and who had not been paid solatium or interest. They had sought parity with those who were found entitled to these statutory benefits before 1997 and after 2019.