NH Act — Land Owners Entitled to Solatium & Interest | Supreme Court, 25 March 2026

On 25 March 2026, the Supreme Court of India disposed of the review petition filed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), thereby affirming that land owners whose acquisition compensation cases were pending on or after 28 March 2008 are entitled to solatium, interest, and interest on solatium under acquisitions carried out under the National Highways Act, 1956. The order confirms that the 2019 Tarsem Singh judgement operates retrospectively for acquisitions completed between 1997 and 2015 and not merely prospectively.

Key Questions & Answers

Q1. Who will be covered by this judgement?

The order operates retrospectively. Land owners whose compensation cases are pending after 2008 (i.e. after the order of the Punjab & Haryana High Court of 2008) can claim interest, solatium, and interest on solatium. This flows from Tarsem Singh – I & II and the DB decision in Sunita Mehra v. Union of India.

Q2. From what date is interest on solatium payable?

In Tarsem Singh – I, the Supreme Court directed that all cases of acquisition between 1997 and 2015 will receive the benefit of solatium, interest, and interest on solatium. Where the case is pending after 2008, interest on solatium is payable from the date of acquisition, in line with the entitlement that existed under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (since replaced by the 2013 Act). In short — if acquisition occurred between 1997 and 2015 and the case had not attained finality by 2008, land owners will receive the benefit.

Events in Chronological Order

1997 — Introduction of Section 3-J (NH Act): Section 3-J was introduced by way of amendment into the NH Act, stating that the LA Act, 1894 would not apply in its entirety to the NH Act — particularly the entitlement to solatium and interest would not apply to acquisitions under the NH Act.
LA Act, 1894: Granted solatium and interest to land losers.
Lalita v. Union of India: The Karnataka High Court struck down Section 3-J as unconstitutional.
10 February 2003: The order was stayed by the Division Bench of the Karnataka High Court and the stay continued until 2019. A Writ Appeal was pending and was dismissed after the judgement in Tarsem Singh – I passed by the Supreme Court.
28 March 2008 (DB, Punjab & Haryana HC) & 4 March 2011 (Madras HC): Both courts did not strike down Section 3-J but directed that land owners under the NH Act were entitled to solatium and interest on parity with acquisitions under the LA Act, 1894. Cases: Golden Iron and Steel Forging v. Union of India; T. Chakrapani v. Union of India. (An appeal in the Chakrapani case was disposed of by the Supreme Court holding that solatium would be granted.)
2013 — Right to Fair Compensation Act: The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 was introduced. It came into effect on 1 January 2014 and replaced the LA Act, 1894.
2014 — Ordinance: The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014 was introduced. Under this ordinance, the compensation regime under the 2013 Act was extended to acquisitions under the NH Act with effect from 1 January 2015. This ordinance subsequently lapsed.
28 August 2015: The Union of India issued a notification continuing the applicability of the compensation provisions of the 2013 Act to acquisitions under the NH Act.
The problem that remained: Acquisitions carried out during the period between the insertion of Section 3-J (1997) and the UOI notification of 2015 remained outside the fold of entitlement to solatium and interest.
11 August 2016 — Sunita Mehra v. Union of India: A Division Bench of the Supreme Court directed that the benefit of solatium and interest shall be available to land losers whose cases were pending on 28 March 2008 — the date on which the order in Golden Iron and Steel Forging v. Union of India was passed, which the Supreme Court adopted as the cut-off date for considering compensation claims.
19 September 2019 — Union of India v. Tarsem Singh: A Division Bench of the Supreme Court held that the benefit of solatium and interest must be given to acquisitions done between 1997 and 2015. Section 3-J was declared unconstitutional to the extent that it denied solatium and interest.
NHAI Miscellaneous Application: NHAI moved an MA before the Supreme Court requesting that the directions in the 2019 order should operate prospectively only.
4 February 2025: The Supreme Court dismissed NHAI's MA and held that the 2019 order applies to land acquisitions completed between 1997 and 2015 — not merely future acquisitions.
Review Petition: A Review Petition was filed by NHAI in respect of the MA order.
25 March 2026: The Review Petition was disposed of, affirming the position taken in the 2019 and 2025 orders.

Key Points of the 2026 Ruling

Land owners' compensation cases that are pending after 2008 are entitled to seek addition of interest, solatium, and interest on solatium.
Where land owners' compensation claims were pending after 2008 but the issue of interest and solatium was raised only after 2008, no interest is payable for the period of delay. Interest and interest on solatium are payable only from the date the claim was raised.
Claims that concluded prior to 2008 — i.e. where there are no pending proceedings in respect of the acquisition — cannot be reopened for claiming solatium or interest.

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Disclaimer: This article is intended for general information and does not constitute legal advice. Readers should consult qualified counsel for their specific matters. See our full disclaimer.