Guj HC orders completion of pending arbitration proceedings on Western DFC land compensation in 6 months

The Gujarat High Court has directed the arbitrator to complete within six months the arbitration proceedings with regard to compensation of land acquired from farmers in Bharuch district in the state for the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor DFC.The court of Justice A S Supehia passed this order on Tuesday.The court gave the direction to the arbitrator appointed by the Central government as the farmers in Bharuch were not satisfied with the amount of compensation.


PTI | Ahmedabad | Updated: 27-07-2022 17:44 IST | Created: 27-07-2022 17:44 IST
Guj HC orders completion of pending arbitration proceedings on Western DFC land compensation in 6 months
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The Gujarat High Court has directed the arbitrator to complete within six months the arbitration proceedings with regard to compensation of land acquired from farmers in Bharuch district in the state for the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC).

The court of Justice A S Supehia passed this order on Tuesday.

The court gave the direction to the arbitrator appointed by the Central government as the farmers in Bharuch were not satisfied with the amount of compensation. The tracts of land of the petitioner farmers were acquired for the 'Special Railway Project Western Dedicated Freight Corridor' and the awards were passed in 2010 by the Competent Authority. But as the farmers were not satisfied with the amount of compensation, they had filed an application in 2010 for arbitration before the Arbitrator and Commissioner, Fisheries Department appointed by the Central Government under the Railways Act, 1989.

Even 12 years after the farmers of Occhan and Telod villages filed their applications before the arbitrator, the latter neither decided on them nor passed any award. The farmers then approached the high court seeking for a direction to the arbitrator to complete the proceedings.

Appearing for the farmers, advocate Anand Yagnik submitted that as per the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, which was amended in 2015 and again in 2019, the arbitrator is under the obligation to complete the arbitration proceedings within a period of 12 months from the date of completion of pleadings. The pleadings were completed and the arbitrator cannot sit over it for 12 years and not decide the same, he told the court. Yagnik added that even the Land Acquisition Officer wrote in 2013 requesting the arbitrator to complete the proceedings in time, but to no avail.

In their submissions before the court, the advocate representing the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd (DFCC) and the Ministry of Railways supported the case of the farmers for early disposal, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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