T YOUNIS Vs. SPECIAL LAND ACQUISITION OFFICER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Two endorsements issued by the Special Land Acquisition Officer (for short, "the Competent Authority"), National Highway Authority dtd. 20/5/2022 and 20/9/2022 vide Annexures-F and F1 respectively are challenged in this writ petition by the landowner.

(2.) The Competent Authority, by the above- mentioned endorsements, has informed the petitioner that the payment of the compensation in respect of the acquired lands belonging to the petitioner in Sy.Nos.503/A2 and 503/B2 of Amaravati Village, Hospet Taluk cannot be made because the National Highway Authority of India (for short, "NHAI") had received a legal opinion that it should not release the payment due to the pendency of the applications filed under Sec. 33 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (for short, "the A and C Act") and the payment would be released by NHAI only after the award attains finality.

(3.) The admitted facts of the case are that a notification under Sec. 3A of the National Highways Act, 1956 (for short "the Act"), declaring the intention of the Government to acquire the lands was published on 15/12/2009. This was followed by a declaration under Sec. 3D of the Act, which was published on 14/12/2010.