Ajit Karn
“Dream Project of This Country,” the Bullet Train
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition filed by Godrej & Boyce company challenging acquisition proceedings started by the Maharashtra government and the NHSRCL in Mumbai’s Vikhroli area for the project, stating that the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train is a “dream project of this country, of national importance, and in the public interest.”
The initiative is unique, according to a division bench of Justices R D Dhanuka and M M Sathaye, and the public good would triumph over individual interests.
The court ruled that where there is a dispute between two basic rights—inter or intra—it is up to the judge to decide where the bigger public interest lay while balancing the two rights.
“In the end, what will triumph is the overwhelming common interest. According to the circumstances of this case, the petitioner’s private interest does not outweigh the public interest, which would serve an infrastructure project of public significance that is a national priority and a first of its type “It read.
The court said, “In our judgement, the bullet train project is an infrastructure project of national significance. A significant portion of the people would benefit and would have preserved other advantages for the good of our country.”
About 21 km of the 508.17 km of rail between Mumbai and Ahmedabad are expected to be subterranean. The property near Vikhroli is where one of the tunnel’s entrances is located (owned by Godrej).
The corporation was accused of delaying the whole project, which was crucial for the public, according to the state government and the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL).
In its ruling, the court said that the Fair Compensation Act’s provisions provide the government the authority to carry the already-started acquisition procedures all the way to their natural end.
The court also refused to accept Godrej’s argument that the compensation was originally set at 572 crore but was later cut to 264 crore.
Since the aforementioned private dialogue was clearly unsuccessful, the compensation determined at that point cannot be regarded as final and binding, according to HC.
The purchase procedure for the whole route for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project was finished, according to the authorities, with the exception of the property held by Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company Limited in the Vikhroli region.
Since 2019, the government and the corporation have been involved in a court battle over who would control the property in Mumbai’s Vikhroli neighbourhood that will be used for the bullet train project.
The state government had advised the court that it had already deposited the 264 crore rupees in compensation that had been granted to the corporation in October of last year.
The Maharashtra government’s order of September 15, 2022, awarding compensation to the Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Co Ltd for land acquisition for the bullet train project is being contested by the company.
It had described the state government’s land acquisition efforts as “illegal” and asserted that they contained “multiple and patent illegalities.”
The HC bench, however, stated that it had not discovered any illegality in the authorities’ compensation or the actions taken. It stated, “We have not discovered any illegality in the compensation.”
No intervention is necessary since the corporation has not established a case warranting the court’s use of its authority, it said.
Senior attorney Navroz Seervai, representing the corporation, asked the HC to postpone the ruling for two weeks so they could file an appeal with the Supreme Court. However, the bench declined to suspend its directive.
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The company had earlier sought the HC to direct the state government not to proceed towards the award passed and initiation possession proceedings.
It said the award granted by the government was “ex facie illegal and hence a nullity”.
Additionally, it disproved the government’s and NHSRCL’s claims that the corporation was causing the project to drag out unnecessarily.
