Shimla, Aug. 11 -- The Himachal Pradesh High Court has directed the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and private contractor M/s Gawar Shimla Highway Private Ltd. to jointly pay an interim compensation of Rs 2.23 crore to a woman whose multi-storey house collapsed during construction work on the four-lane Shimla Bypass project.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice G S Sandhawalia and Justice Bipin C Negi directed NHAI and the contractor to pay 50 per cent each of the assessed compensation amount of Rs.2,23,55,924 to Ranjana Devi within four weeks.

The court took suo motu cognisance of the matter following a letter from neighbouring resident Chanda Devi, whose three-and-a-half-storey house at Chamyana was rendered unsafe a...