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Judgment
,,
S.RAVINDRA BHAT, J.",,
The petitioners’ grievance in these two writ proceedings is with respect to the notification under Section 3(A)(1) â€" consequent upon the,,
declaration under Section 3(D) of the National Highways Act, 1956.",,
Brief facts are that the petitioner owns an aggregate of 7150 sq. yards of land spread over 3 Khasras (i.e. Khasra Nos. 427, 430 and 431) in joint",,
Khata No. 31A/28, Village Rangpuri. By a notification dated 12.01.2018 the respondent-National Highways Authority of India (“NHAIâ€",,
hereafter) proposed to acquire land for a stretch of about 1.5 k.m. towards the maintenance, management and operation of the proposed Dwarka",,
Expressway. Notification- schedule to which described the details including Khasra numbers of the lands proposed to be acquired reads as follows:,,
“MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS,,
NOTIFICATION,,
New Delhi, the 12th January, 2018",,
S.O. 175(E).â€"In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of Section of 3(A) of the National Highways Act, 1956 (48 of 1956) (here in",,
after referred to as the said Act), the Central Government, after being satisfied that for the public purpose, the land, the brief description of which is",,
given in the Schedule below, is required for building (Widening/Four laning, etc.), maintenance, management and operation of Proposed Dwarka",,
Expressway, on the stretch of the land from Km. 0.000 to Km. 1.500 in District New Delhi in the State of Delhi, hereby declares its intention to",,
acquire such land.,,
Any, person interested in the said land may, within twenty-one days from the date of publication of this notification in the Official Gazette, object to the",,
use of such land for the aforesaid purpose under sub-section (1) of section 3C of the said Act.,,
Every such objection shall be made to the competent authority, namely the ADM, New Delhi, in writing, and shall set out the grounds there of and the",,
competent authority shall give the objector an opportunity of being heard, either in person of by a legal practitioner, and may, after hearing all such",,
objections and after making such further enquiry, if any, as the competent authority thinks necessary, by order, either allow or disallow the objections.",,
Any order made be the competent authority under subsection (2) of Section 3C of the said Act shall be final.,,
The land plans and other details of the land covered under this notification are available and can be inspected by the interested person at the aforesaid,,
office of the competent authority.â€,,
It is not in dispute that the petitioners objected to the acquisition, by filing their representations under Section 3(C)(1) of the Act on 01.02.2018.",,
Besides stating that no public purpose would be fulfilled by the proposed acquisition, it is also contended that the land sought to be acquired did not in",,
any manner promote the objective of building any highway and that the Dwarka Expressway and its connection to Vasant Kunj was not in any,,
manner a feasible proposal as there was no existing highway under the provisions of the Act. Besides, it was contended that the mandate of law",,
required that a brief description of the land had to be given, which was not fulfilled and no proper plan accompanied the notification.",,
The NHAI in its counter affidavit states that the report dealing with the objections, and rejecting them was forwarded to it on 04.04.2018. The",,
NHAI’s position is that the Dwarka Expressway would boost the development of road infrastructure and inures to the larger public benefit; it,,
alludes to Development Plan 2031 of the Gurgaon Manesar Urban Complex (GMUC), Northern Peripheral Road (NPR)/ Dwarka Expressway and",,
states that the traffic originating from Dwarka and Gurgaon which is to proceed towards Airport or Jaipur and uses the existing NH 8. Further, it",,
states that rapid increase in traffic between Delhi and Gurgaon on NH 8 and other road network has resulted in heavy congestion and that,,
consequently the proposed Dwarka Expressway would provide a bypass to existing NH 8. It is stated that the alignment of Dwarka Expressway,,
takes off from Km 20 Shiv Murti (NH 8) and terminates at Km 40 (near Kerki Daula) of NH 8 at CPR-NH 8 - SPR intersection (at Km 40.070 of,,
NH 8), approx. 2 Km before the Kherki Daula toll plaza.",,
It is submitted that studies of projects of decongestion of Delhi are also under preparation and the decongestion of Delhi Projects cannot be made,,
functional without the implementation of Dwarka Expressway which in turn depends upon the proposed multilevel interchange at the point of,,
acquisition which is the subject matter of the present proceedings.,,
During the hearing, learned counsel for petitioner reiterated the grounds urged in support of these petitions. It was submitted that neither the",,
notification nor the plans kept in the NHAI’s office had any clarity in respect of land sought to be acquired; the mere reference to extent did not in,,
any manner fix the points of acquisition.,,
Thus, the notification and the proposed plans were vague and have to fail on that score. It was consequently urged that the documents produced by",,
the NHAI â€" notably reply to the queries show that the grade separated interchange was proposed at the point in question (Shiv Murti) which also,,
includes connectivity to the proposed Rangpuri bypass connecting to the Nelson Mandela Marg in Vasant Kunj. Learned counsel emphasized that this,,
shows that there were some deviations and highlights that as on date when the notification was issued and published, even the feasibility report was",,
not ready with the NHAI. It is urged that moreover, on the basis of the report called by the competent authority â€" which is now produced, that the",,
preparation of feasibility report of Package-1 for the section of Dwarka Expressway from Shiv Murti to Rail under Bridge (RuB) in Dwarka, Sector-",,
21 was in advanced stage, though not available, and that the NHAI as late as on 16.01.2018 admitted that as and when the report would be available,",,
it would be posted on its website.,,
Counsel for NHAI refuted the petitioners’ submissions and relied upon the plans kept in its office as a part of the acquisition notification. She,,
also relied upon another map which is part of the record. It is submitted that the petitioner has placed on record the grade separator interchange,,
drawings. Learned counsel denied that any deviations from the plan were made. Reliance has also been placed upon full objections and the notes,,
given by the NHAI.,,
So far as the first objection with respect to the vagueness of the notification is concerned, this Court is not persuaded by the petitioners’",,
S.no.,Objections,Comments
1.,"The objectors and
Counsels for the
objectors argued
upon the drawing and
design of this
project. Many of
them raised questions
with respect to design
of this project
according to
objectors, this type of
design will lead to
more accidents and it
will become accident
prone area. It is also
stated by the
objectors that the
minimum speed
prescribed for
any expressway
cannot be reach with
this type of drawing
and design. Some","As per the decision of Hon’ble
Minister, RT&H held on
01.06.2017, it was decided that Dwarka
Expressway would be implemented in 5
packages (2 in Haryana + 2 in Delhi + 1
for western Airport Connectivity)
The project being referred to is
1st package of Dwarka Expressway (from
Shiv Murti upto RUB in Dwarka, 5.9 km).
The expressway alignment of the main
carriageway from Shiv Murti till the Rail
under Bridge (RuB) shall be through
shallow tunnel as the existing RoW is not
adequate for having at grade segregated
separate carriageways for
Expressway/Link Road and Service road,
the alternative could have been taking the
entire corridor elevated, but Airport
Authority of India has not agreed to
elevated structure for Dwarka
Expressway from Shiv Murti upto RUB in
Dwarka as it infringe in some of the radar
influence area.
,"objectors have
alleged that alignment
o f the expressway
has been shifted to
400 m south from
present meeting point
of Dwarka
Expressway to NH-
48 save some
influential persons.","Therefore, as described above the
Dwarka Expressway near Shiv Murti
would be in Shallow
Tunnel (i.e. -1 level)
For the purpose of covering movements
and turns in all directions a grade
separated interchange has been proposed.
As per the interchange design, the traffic
from Mahipalpur, Rangpuri & Gurgaon
towards Dwarka Expressway would be
elevated at +1 level crossing above NH 8.
So from elevated structure at +1 level,
traffic destined to Dwarka shall access the
shallow tunnel and therefore requires to go
at -1 level below the ground. For this
transition from +1 level to -1 level, ramp
length of about 800 m are required which
are proposed to be constructed in AAI
land (about 28 acres) near Shiv Murti
between ROW & Airport boundary and
adjusting the ramp within this land of AAI
(without disturbing the NSG
establishment).
Constraint cited above is the control point
of design of multilevel interchange at Shiv
Murti.
The earlier proposal of taking the
Dwarka Link Road straight towards
Vasant Kunj was designed without
considering the
,,"interchange at NH 8. The design approved
by UTTIPEC was deficient in terms of
providing overall connectivity and did not
include the grade separated right turns
from Dwarka towards Gurgaon, Gurgaon
towards Vasant Kunj, Dhaula Kuan
towards Dwarka and Vasant Kunj towards
Dhaula Kuan. If all these movements are
included in the same alignment, the
interchange shall infringe inside the Airport
boundary wall and the elevated portion
shall be closer to the 3rd runway. As per
UTTIPEC proposal, a straight tunnel was
proposed which is not Technically feasible
and the ramp length required for the tunnel
may not be constructed in the available
land.
As per the same proposal, the road was
supposed to connect Abdul Gaffar Khan
Marg near Ryan International School.
However, this connection will not serve
any purpose as the section of Abdul Gaffar
Khan Marg near Ryan International school
is already congested. It will also pass
through dense settlements of Rangpuri
thereby affecting the residential structures.
NHAI proposed to connect Rangpuri
Bypass directly with Nelson Mandela
Marg. In this alignment proposal minimum
built
,,"structures will be affected.
Therefore, due to further connectivity of
Rangpuri Bypass and constraints cited for
Shiv Murti Interchange, the alignment
change is mandatory.
One would further appreciate that for
developing Shiv Murti Interchange,
minimum private land and maximum
government land has been considered. If
AAI land and in rarest of rare cases, the
particular project, if it is found to be ex-
facie contrary to the mandate of law or
tainted due to malafides. In the case in
hand, neither any violation of mandate of
the 1956 Act has been established nor the
charge of malice in fact has been proved.
Therefore, the order under challenge
cannot be sustained.
Considering the above, no specific
comments are offered on the alignment of
the Dwarka Expressway. However, as
mentioned above, the control point of design
of interchange is adjusting the ramp within
this land of AAI (without disturbing the
NSG establishment) is the control point of
design of multilevel interchange at Shiv
Murti.