Case No.
Arbitration Appeal No.174 of 2024
Acts & Sections
Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 §29A
Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 §34
Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 §37
National Highways Act, 1956 §3A(1)
National Highways Act, 1956 §3G(3)
National Highways Act, 1956 §3G(5)
Headnote
AI-drafted · Reviewed and approved
The appellant, National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), challenged the judgment dated 04.12.2021 passed by the District Judge, Mandi (H.P.) under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, which had upheld the arbitral award dated 28.11.2017 enhancing the market value of acquired land from Rs. 50,00,000/- per bigha to Rs. 68,16,513/- per bigha. The land was acquired under the National Highways Act, 1956 for the four-laning of NH-21 (Bilaspur-Ner Chowk Section), with a Section 3A(1) notification published on 17.09.2012.
The appellant raised five contentions: (i) that the arbitrator had become functus officio under Section 29A of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 since the award was not passed within 12 months of commencement of reference proceedings; (ii) that the sale deed relied upon pertained to a small parcel of land and could not be the basis for valuing large tracts; (iii) that the Local Commissioner's Inspection Report prepared by a retired State Administrative Service officer was inadmissible; (iv) that no deduction of 60-70% was applied; and (v) that Section 3G(7) of the National Highways Act was not followed, rendering the award patently illegal.
The High Court, on the first contention, held that Section 29A of the Act, which came into force on 23.10.2015, was not applicable to arbitration proceedings that had commenced before the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2015 came into force, relying on P.K. Construction Company & Anr. vs. Shimla Municipal Corporation & Ors., AIR 2017 HP 103. Since the proceedings before the arbitrator commenced on 06.02.2015, the award could not be held to be non est.
Catchwords:
National Highways Act · land acquisition · arbitration · market value · enhancement of compensation · functus officio · Section 29A Arbitration and Conciliation Act · Section 3G(5) National Highways Act · sale deed · Local Commissioner report · deduction · patent illegality · Section 37 appeal
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