[K-Rail Silverline] Kerala government justified in invoking LARR Act for land acquisition: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday held that the State government is empowered to invoke the provisions of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (LARR Act) to acquire land for the Silverline project of the Kerala Rail Development Corporation Limited (K-Rail) [MV Chackochan & Ors. v Union of India]..Justice N Nagaresh noted that since the Silverline project has not yet been declared as a Special Railways by the Central government, the provisions of the Railways Act, 1989 cannot be invoked for land acquisition. In such circumstances, the State government is justified in invoking the LARR Act, the court held. "As the Semi High Speed Railway Line (Silver Line) Project is not declared as a Special Railway Project as defined under Section 2(37-A) of the Railways Act, 1989, the respondents cannot invoke the provisions of the Railways Act, 1989 for land acquisition. In the circumstances, the 2nd respondent (State government) is justified in invoking the provisions of the LARR Act, 2013 for the purpose of the proposed Semi High Speed Railway Line (Silver Line) Project," the judgement stated..Expanding on the same, the Court held as follows: The Railways Act, 1989 does not expressly or implicitly prohibit the State of Kerala from invoking the provisions of the LARR Act, 2013 for land acquisition for the proposed Silverline Project;Power of the Central government to acquire land invoking the provisions of the Railways Act, 1989 can be exercised only for the purpose of executing a Special Railway Project as defined under Section 2(37-A) of the Railways Act, 1989 and;There is no illegality in the State government issuing orders sanctioning land acquisition under the LARR Act in various districts across Kerala. .The petitioners approached the court through Advocates Babu Joseph Kuruvathazha, MG Sreejith and KS Archana, challenging a Government Order which had sanctioned the acquisition of 955.13 hectares of land for the Silverline project.Since the GO invoked the LARR Act, the petitioners challenged the legality of the same by contending that the provisions of the LARR Act are not applicable to railway projects. The petitioners pointed out that Section 105 of the LARR states that the provisions of the Act shall not apply to the enactments relating to land acquisition specified in the Fourth Schedule which includes, among others , the Railways Act, 1989.They, therefore, argued that the land acquisition for the silverline project can only be done by the Central Government by invoking the provision of the Railways Act. .However this was countered on behalf of the respondents by Advocate General K Gopalakrishna Kurup, Standing Counsel of Railways NK Subramanian, Standing Counsel of K-Rail Dinesh Rao and Special Government Pleader TB Hood.The respondents submitted that the Silverline project has not yet been declared as a Special Railways Project of the Central government and therefore, the Railways Act is not applicable to it. .To weigh the sustainability of this argument, the Court went though the provisions of the Railways Act and found that it makes a clear distinction between Government Railway and non-Government Railway. As per Section 2(20) of the Act, 1989 “Government Railway” means a railway owned by the Central Government. As per Section 2(25), “non-Government Railway” means a railway other than a Government Railway. Since the proposed Semi High Speed Railway Line (Silver Line) is not owned by the Central government, the proposed Railway line would fall within the ambit of non-government railway as defined under Section 2(25) of the Railways Act, 1989, the Court opined. Moreover, it found that Section 2 of the LARR Act states that the provisions of the Act relating to land acquisition shall apply for infrastructure projects such as the Silverline project. Therefore, the Court dismissed the petition and held that the State Government was within its rights to invoke the LARR Act for the purpose of land acquisition for the Silverline project..K- Rail is a joint venture company under the Government of Kerala and the Ministry of Railways, Government of India, set up for complementing Indian Railways in augmenting the railway infrastructure within the State of Kerala.The Silverline Project was recommended by K- Rail for development of a 529.45 km semi-high-speed rail corridor connecting the State's northern most and southern most districts (Kasaragod and Thiruvananthapuram). The project is expected to cost the public exchequer over ₹60,000 crores.The State of Kerala is currently witnessing a massive row from several people who found out that they would be displaced as well as those concerned about the potential environmental impact of the project.On Monday, the Supreme Court rejected the appeals challenging the decision of a division bench of the Kerala High Court to lift the stay on the land-survey proceedings of the Kerala government and K- Rail for the Silverline Project..[Read Judgement]