Must compensation for a land acquisition with no award as of 1 January 2014 be determined under the Act of 2013, where proceedings commenced earlier?

National Highways Act, 1956 — s.3J, s.105 — Land Acquisition Act, 1894 — Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 — Solatium and interest — Constitution of India, Art.14 — National Highways Act, 1956 — s.3J — Article 14 — Unconstitutional exclusion — Held: Excluding landowners under the National Highways Act from the solatium and interest available under general land acquisition law amounts to a violation of Article 14; Section 3J of the NH Act was struck down as unconstitutional on this ground. (¶6, 17) National Highways Act, 1956 — Land Acquisition Act, 1894 — Applicable rate of solatium — Held further: Solatium and interest for a National Highways Act acquisition are computed under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 where compensation is determined before 1 January 2015, the date from which the 2013 Act was extended to such acquisitions; a later determination attracts the more beneficial 2013 Act. (¶23, 24) Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 — s.24(1)(a) — Award pre-dating the Act — Held further: Compensation for a land acquisition with no award as of 1 January 2014 must be determined under the Act of 2013, even where the proceedings commenced earlier. Appeal allowed to the extent of directing solatium and interest under the Act of 1894. (¶21, 22, 27)