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Informist, Wednesday, Mar. 25, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court Wednesday rejected a review plea by the National Highways Authority of India, seeking prospective application of a 2019 verdict to grant solatium and interest to all landowners whose land was acquired for highway development. The court rejected NHAI's argument that retrospective application would result in additional financial burden of about INR 290 billion.

 

The grant of solatium and interest cannot be made contingent upon the magnitude of the financial burden, said a bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant. The constitutional guarantee of just compensation cannot be diluted on that basis, he said. Mere projection of financial liability does not constitute a valid ground for review, he added.

 

This means landowners who were not given solatium and interest when their land was acquired by the highways authority from 1997 to 2015 due to an amendment in the law, can now get the same. Solatium is an additional payment made to landowners whose land is acquired by the government for public projects. It is paid in addition to the market value of the land.

 

However, while landowners may be entitled to solatium and interest as a matter of law, they cannot be permitted to reopen concluded claims which have attained finality, the court said. Landowners whose compensation claims were pending as on Mar. 28, 2015, when the new Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 took effect, will be entitled to claim solatium and interest in terms of the law laid down in the 2019 ruling, it said.

 

In cases where enhanced compensation has been granted but the issue of solatium and interest was not specifically claimed or decided, the landowners may seek such benefits, subject to law, said the court. However, interest on such components will be payable only from the date on which such claim was raised, it said.

 

Where the claims of landowners had attained finality prior to Mar. 28, 2015, and no proceedings were pending, such claims will not be reopened, said the court. No review or modification of concluded determinations will be permitted for the purpose of claiming solatium or interest, it said.

 

In 2019, the apex court, while hearing challenges from landowners, had struck down Section 3J of the National Highways Act, 1956 and accordingly allowed solatium and interest to landowners. The highways authority sought that the 2019 verdict should apply prospectively. If it is applied retrospectively, it would necessitate reopening all acquisitions made by the NHAI between 1997 and 2015, said the highways authority. Consequently, the government would be obligated to compensate every claimant whose land was acquired by the NHAI during this period, the authority added.  

 

In 2025, the apex court said that rendering the decision in 2019 case as prospective would create a situation where a landowner whose land was acquired on Dec. 31, 2014, would be denied the benefit of solatium and interest, whereas a landowner whose land was acquired the very next day, Jan. 1, 2015, the date on which an ordinance was promulgated, to read the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 into the National Highways Act, 1956, would be entitled to these statutory benefits.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

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