MUMBAI, Jan. 4 -- The Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (MSHRC) has recommended that the Thane collector pay fair compensation to a man whose land in Kalyan was acquired for the Mumbai-Vadodara National Highway project. "It is the duty of the state to pay fair compensation to the owners of the property upon acquisition of such property for the purpose of the state," the commission said in an order passed last month, directing the collector to pay compensation to the complainant, Mohamed Latif Shaikh, within a month. In his complaint dated December 30, 2024, Shaikh told the commission that he had received no compensation for his land, which included his home and shop, due to which he lost his livelihood and faced financial hardship. MSHRC chairperson justice A M Badar noted in his order that the commission had earlier directed the Thane collector to conduct a fact-finding inquiry into the land acquisition and the compensation paid to the landowner. However, the commission observed that the collector had "chosen to remain absent". "In the absence of any rebuttal from the Thane collector, it needs to be held that the property of the complainant was compulsorily acquired by the state without payment of any compensation," Justice Badar said. Apart from approaching the MSHRC, Shaikh has also filed a petition before the Bombay High Court along with ten others who occupied land belonging to the Garib Nawaz Welfare Society in Baneli, Kalyan. The land was acquired for the Mumbai-Vadodara Expressway, a project of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) that will connect Vadodara in Gujarat with Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Raigad district. The petitioners claimed to have occupied the premises for about a decade....