New Delhi, March 25 -- In a setback to the Union government, the Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a review petition filed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), declining to limit its 2019 ruling on extra land compensation and leaving the agency with a Rs.29,000-crore liability for unsettled cases.

A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan reaffirmed that landowners whose land was acquired for highway projects between 1997 and 2015 are entitled to extra compensation, known as solatium, and interest, even for past acquisitions.

The apex court maintained that financial implications of the judgment, estimated at around Rs.29,000-crore by the NHAI-cannot be a ground to deny fair compensation to la...