The Supreme Court has reaffirmed its 2019 judgment granting solatium and interest to landowners retrospectively under the National Highways Act, despite NHAI's review plea.
A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and justice Ujjal Bhuyan upheld its 2019 judgment and its February 4, 2025 order, declining to revisit the core finding that landowners are entitled to solatium and interest despite acquisitions being carried out under the special regime of the National Highways Act, 1956.
The court held that financial implications, even to the tune of ₹29,000 crore, cannot dilute the constitutional guarantee of just compensation.
The judgment is expected to have wide ramifications across the country, particularly in states with significant highway acquisition activity, as it settles the long-standing tension between ensuring parity in compensation and maintaining finality of concluded proceedings.
The court drew a decisive line at March 28, 2008, and ruled that only those landowners whose compensation claims were "alive" on or after this date would be entitled to seek addition of solatium, interest, and interest on solatium.
