HP High Court Rules Landowners Entitled to Interest on Solatium; Orders Deposit Within Eight Weeks
SHIMLA: In a significant relief to land losers, the High Court of Himachal Pradesh has reaffirmed that petitioners are entitled to receive interest on solatium in land acquisition cases.
Delivering the judgment, Justice Sandeep Sharma held that the legal question surrounding interest on solatium is no longer res integra (an unsettled point of law), citing established precedent from both a Coordinate Bench of the High Court and the Supreme Court of India.
The bench recalled the Coordinate Bench’s ruling in Union of India v. Tek Ram and Ors. (Civil Revision No. 164 of 2022, decided on December 16, 2025). In that decision, the court had relied upon the landmark verdict of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Sunder Singh v. Union of India, which established that solatium forms an integral component of the total compensation awarded for acquired land and therefore attracts statutory interest.
Reiterating that statutory framework, the High Court allowed the petition and directed the acquiring authorities to calculate the enhanced compensation strictly in terms of the apex court’s guidelines in Sunder Singh.
The court granted the respondents six weeks to calculate and sanction the enhanced compensation after including the interest component on the solatium amount.
The authorities have further been instructed to deposit the final computed amount with the Registry of the High Court within eight weeks.
