Statutory interest under Section 80 accrues on differential compensation from revival of the original awards.

The original land-acquisition awards were made on 30 March 2013 and 18 June 2013.

The competent authority later reviewed the awards, and the revised awards were set aside by the High Court on 31 January 2018 for want of jurisdiction to review them, thereby restoring the original awards.

NHAI had deposited compensation under the revised awards but had not deposited the differential amount due under the original awards after their revival.

The landholders sought that differential amount and statutory interest under Section 80 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (“2013 Act”).

1. Whether the landholders were entitled to interest under Section 80 on the differential compensation from the date possession was taken, or only from the date the revised awards were set aside and the original awards revived.

2. Whether NHAI was required to deposit the differential compensation and the competent authority to determine and facilitate payment of the statutory interest.

Section 80 of the 2013 Act provides for statutory interest on compensation where payment or deposit is delayed, at the applicable rates of 9% and, in the circumstances prescribed by the provision, 15%.

The Court also applied the principle that, once the original awards were restored, NHAI was required to deposit the outstanding differential compensation within a reasonable time.

The earlier judgment setting aside the revised awards had held that the competent authority lacked jurisdiction to review the awards, but had not granted any relief concerning Section 80 interest.

The Court declined to award interest on the differential amount from the date of taking possession.

The original awards pre-dated the 2013 Act, and the 2018 judgment had set aside the revised awards for want of review jurisdiction without directing interest or finding that NHAI’s earlier non-deposit was unlawful.

However, after the original awards were restored on 31 January 2018, NHAI was obliged to deposit the differential amount within a reasonable time.

Its failure to do so entitled the landholders to Section 80 interest from that date until deposit.

It directed the competent authority to make a supplementary award determining that interest within two weeks, and required NHAI to deposit the amount determined within four weeks of the authority’s order.

The Court also directed payment of any differential compensation still unpaid under the original award within four weeks and ordered disbursement, after verification of entitlement, as expeditiously as possible.