Court No. - 21
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 14690 of 2019 Petitioner :- Rajani And Another Respondent :- Union Of India And 8 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Bipin Lal Srivastava,Sri S K Varma (Senior Advocate) Counsel for Respondent :- A.S.G.I.,Ashish Kumar Singh,Ashok Kumar Pandey,C.S.C.
Hon'ble Pradeep Kumar Singh Baghel,J. Hon'ble Rohit Ranjan Agarwal,J.
The petitioner has challenged the order passed by the respondent No.3 whereby the petitioner has been called upon to refund Rs.1,06,65,741/- which is said to be an excess amount paid to her.
Shri S.K. Varma, learned Senior Advocate assisted by Shri Bipin Lal Srivastava submits that the matter has been referred under Section 3H(4) of the National Highways Act, 1956 for the apportionment of the amount, hence, the third respondent had no jurisdiction to issue an order for recovery of amount, which has already been paid to the petitioner.
Shri Verma further submits that Section 3H(4) clearly provides that in case of dispute regarding the apportionment of the amount, the matter shall be referred by the competent authority to the Principal Civil Court for issuing a recovery certificate.
We have heard learned counsel for the petitioners, learned Standing Counsel for respondent No.3, Shri Ashish Agarwal, learned counsel for respondent Nos. 4 to 9, Shri R.K. Jaiswal has put in appearance on behalf of the Union of India and Shri Pranjal Mehrotra appears for the respondent No.2. With the consent of the parties, the matter is taken on board. The case is disposed of in terms of Rule of the Court.
Having regard to the facts of the case that there is a dispute of the shares in the acquired land, we find that the appropriate remedy to determine the share under Section 3H(4) of the National Highways Act, 1956 is the Principal Civil Court. By the impugned order, the matter has been sent to the Principal Civil Court.
In the meantime, the amount which has already been paid to the petitioner is sought to be recovered.
In para 6 of the writ petition, the petitioner has made an averment and accepted the above mentioned amount of compensation and the same is with the petitioners.
Accordingly, in this regard, we are issuing following direction:
(i) The petitioner shall deposit a sum of Rs. 1 crore in the interest bearing account of Nationalized Bank and the said amount shall not be withdrawn by her without the leave of the Principal Civil Court.
A copy of the fixed deposit receipt shall be submitted before the Civil Court along with the certified copy of this order within four weeks. It is made clear that we have not expressed our opinion on the merits of the case, as we have not adverted on any of the issue raise in the writ petition, hence, this order shall not prejudice the contention raised by either of the parties before the Civil Court.
The writ petition stands disposed of. Order Date :- 26.4.2019 A.N. Mishra