The Tripura High Court on Friday came down heavily on the North East Frontier (N.F.) Railway authorities for dragging their feet in a land acquisition compensation case. Chief Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao dismissed the revision petition filed by the Deputy Chief Engineer of the Railway and imposed costs of ₹10,000, payable to the affected landowners within four weeks.
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Background
The dispute traces back to 2011 when the Railway acquired land belonging to Dilip Das and his wife, Prabha Rani Das, from South Tripura under the colonial-era Land Acquisition Act, 1894. Initially, the Land Acquisition Collector had fixed the rate at ₹5 lakh per kani. The couple challenged it before the Land Acquisition Judge, who in 2018 enhanced the value to ₹10 lakh per kani.
The Railway appealed, and in 2019 the High Court reduced the figure slightly, fixing the compensation at ₹7.5 lakh per kani. With this order attaining finality, the landowners moved the executing court in 2021 to secure payment of nearly ₹43 lakh, which they said remained unpaid despite partial disbursement.
Court’s Observations
The executing court had attached furniture and official equipment from the Land Acquisition Collector’s office after repeated non-compliance. Later, those items were released on the Collector’s undertaking to pay the dues within a month. But the Railway, curiously absent during several hearings, suddenly filed objections only on June 19, 2025-two days after the release order.
The High Court was blunt. “The petitioner was hell-bent on delaying the execution proceedings indefinitely,” the Chief Justice observed, noting that notices had been served years ago. The bench referred to Supreme Court rulings that directed execution cases should not drag on for more than six months. Instead of cooperating, the Railway had “tried to take advantage of its own wrong,” the court said.
The judge also clarified that since only the Collector’s office property was attached, and not that of the Railway itself, the petitioner had no reason to complain about the orders of May 31 and June 17.
Decision
Finding no merit in the revision plea, the High Court dismissed it outright. The Railway was ordered to pay ₹10,000 as costs to the landowners within four weeks. With this, the long-running tussle over compensation enters its final stage, unless authorities choose to test their luck further in appeal.
Case: Deputy Chief Engineer (Con-2), N.F. Railway vs. Dilip Das & Anr.
Case No.: CRP No. 43 of 2025
Petitioner (Judgment Debtor): Deputy Chief Engineer (Con-2), N.F. Railway, Agartala
Respondents (Decree Holders): Sri Dilip Das and Smt. Prabha Rani Das (landowners)
Date of Judgment: 26 September 2025