India, April 11 -- The Bombay High Court on Thursday directed the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to pay Rs.25 lakh to a landowner for wrongfully taking possession of 550 sq metres of his land in 2018 - though only 50 sq metres had been officially acquired - due to an error in the joint measurement sheet during acquisition proceedings dating back to 2012.

The division bench of Justice M S Sonak and Justice Jitendra Jain was hearing a petition filed by Rahul Rathi, who moved court after repeated letters to the authority went unanswered.

In a sworn affidavit (a written statement made under oath), Swati Thavil, deputy commissioner (Acquisition), NHAI, admitted that due to a clerical error, the actual area acquired was understat...