The High Court has dismissed the Writ Petition (CRP) filed by the National Highways Authority in that regard by ruling that the claim filed by the farmers in the Belgaum Civil Court regarding the Halga-Machhe bypass road is maintainable. Also, as the entire claim of the authority has been thrown out, the National Highways Authority has lost in the face and the farmers have won.
The hearing was held before the Dharwad Bench of the High Court. At this time, arguments were made by the plaintiff and defendant lawyers for almost an hour. Farmers’ lawyer Adv. Ravi Gokakkar pointed out to the court that for the first time the farmers had raised the issue of zero point by filing a writ petition. But since the High Court has no jurisdiction over this issue, it was suggested to go to the Civil Court and raise it there. Accordingly, a suit was filed in the civil court. A total of four notifications have been issued by the National Highway Authority between 2009 and 2018. A civil court has no power to annul it. There is also no right to relief prayer.
Therefore, the farmer had initially approached the High Court and had filed a civil suit only on the instructions of the High Court. Another point is that the farmers have not challenged the notification. The argument of Adv. Gokakkar did. The High Court dismissed the technical issue raised by the National Highways Authority stating that the prayer of the farmers in the civil court is correct.
Another issue was the continuation of the road work despite the stay order of the court. While the Belgaum Civil Court had prohibited the Halga-Machhe Bypass work, the road work was continued for nearly 30 to 38 days destroying the fertile farm land with law and order in hand. Against that there was a stay of proceedings in the civil court. So the farmers could not do anything at that place. However, the high court has today thrown out the entire claim by filing a contempt petition against the National Highway Authority and filing a complaint in the civil court on the writ petition of the farmers in that context.
In this manner, the overall Halga-Machhe bypass road case has almost been defeated by the National Highways Authority and how it has completely faced it. Adv. According to the information provided by Ravi Gokakkar, almost 80 percent of the farmers have won in the said suit and now the formalities in the lower court i.e. Belgaum Civil Court are left.
