Balu Gautam Hegdkar And ANR. v. The State Of Maharashtra The. Its Secretary And ORS.
2026:BHC-AUG:8740-DB
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO. 1940 OF 2026 Sanjay Narayan Nagargoje And Others
VERSUS
The State Of Maharashtra And Others Mr. S. E. Shekade, Advocate for petitioners Mr. A. B. Girase, GP for respondent-State
CORAM
: Smt. Vibha Kankanwadi & Hiten S. Venegavkar, JJ.
DATE : 23rd February, 2026 ORDER (PER : Hiten S. Venegavkar, J.) :- 1.
Present petition seeks direction of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India to the respondents for payment of amount of interest payable under Section 80 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (for short "the Act") as per the representation dated 05.05.2025. It is the case of the petitioners that the land of the present petitioners came to be acquired in the year 2004 and the final award was passed by the respondent authorities in the year, 2024. The payment pertaining to the award has been disbursed and received by the petitioners on 08.04.2025. However, statutory interest amount has not been paid to the petitioners under Section 80 of the Act.
2.
The learned Advocate for the petitioners points out that
petitioners has been making representations to the concerned department since May, 2025, requesting the authorities to calculate the interest amount as per Section 80 of the Act. In fact, the petitioners have also provided the details of the amount i.e., required to be paid to him under Section 80 of the Act. However, the representation till date has not even been considered, neither the amount has been calculated or disbursed to the petitioners.
3.
Learned GP, upon instructions, states that the representation of the petitioner will be decided within a period of three months from today. Though the authorities are now showing their willingness to consider the representation of the petitioner within a period of three months, the record shows that the award amount which was disbursed to the petitioner was approximately Rs. 45,62,000/- and the interest amount under Section 80 of the Act has now accrued and piled up to almost over Rs. 1,41,49,000/-.
4.
We have already considered this issue and expressed our dissatisfaction with the manner in which the authorities and its officers have handled the acquisition matters thereby permitting the interest amount to be piled up and amount payable exceeds the original award by multifold times. We have laid down certain procedures with directions
and also the action that is required to be taken against the authorities who are responsible for such kind of delay and negligence. In the present matter as well, we direct the respondent No. 2 to take up this representation for consideration within a period of one month from today. In addition to the payment of interest under Section 80 of the Act, the Collector, Beed will also fasten the liability on all the concerned Officers who are found to be negligent and irresponsible due to which the amount of interest which is required to be paid up for petitioner has piled up to such a huge quantum, expenditure and expenses of which has to be now borne out of the pocket of public exchequer. For this exercise, the Collector, Beed, shall refer and comply to the directions issued by this Court in Writ Petition No. 14392 of 2025 and after completion will also file a compliance report before this Court, within a period of six weeks from today.
5.
The writ petition on merit stands disposed of with the aforesaid directions.
6.
Place the matter for compliance on 06.04.2026. (Hiten S. Venegavkar, J.) (Smt. Vibha Kankanwadi, J.) B. S. Joshi