Supreme Court orders Himachal government to pay Rs 3.05 crore compensation to 6 land owners in Solan

The Supreme Court has directed the Himachal Pradesh government to pay over Rs 3.05 crore compensation to six land owners of Solan district, whose land was acquired to create safety zone surrounding the mining area of raw material for a cement factory, within 15 days along with 9% interest from the date of supplementary award.
The bench comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra also made it clear on Friday that the total compensation amount to be paid to the land owners would be recovered from M/s Jaiprakash Associates Limited(JAL), as the liability to pay the cost of land acquisition ultimately falls on this cement company.
Setting aside the Himachal Pradesh high court’s judgment dated July 12, 2022, the apex court also remarked, “It is regrettable that the state of Himachal Pradesh, being a welfare state, did not ensure payment of compensation to the Respondent Nos. 1-6 (land owners) before taking possession of their land.” The court further observed that the landowners had to approach the high court to seek directions to the land acquisition authority for passing of the supplementary award which was finally passed on May 2, 2022, after a period of almost four years from the date of passing of the initial award amounting to Rs 10.77 crore in June 2018. Being dissatisfied with the award, the landowners had initially approached the Himachal Pradesh high court.
State government’s industries department had initially in 2008 issued a notification with an intention to acquire the land measuring 56.14 bigha land in Bhalag village of tehsil Arki in district Solan which also contained limestone for the manufacturing of cement to be used by Jaypee Himachal Cement project, a unit of JAL, by invoking special powers in cases of urgency.
The top court, while deciding an appeal filed by M/s Ultra Tech Cement Limited against the high court order, asserted that the state government, in peculiar circumstances, was expected to make the requisite payment towards compensation to the landowners from its own treasury and should have thereafter proceeded to recover the same from JAL. “Instead of making the poor landowners to run after the powerful corporate houses, it should have compelled JAL to make the necessary payment,” said the bench.