“When the public interest is so clearly articulated and is an urgent and pressing exigency, private interests must give way to the extent required. ” – Justice Surya Kant

The Supreme Court, in the case of Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Co Ltd v. State of Maharashtra, rejected the appeal on the ground that there is no illegality found in the judgment passed by the HC. The Mumbai HC gave the order for the acquisition of land for the Mumbai- Ahmedabad Bullet train project.

A bench of CJI DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala, upheld the decision of Bombay HC, which had earlier stated “In our view, the powers of the Court under writ jurisdiction are discretionary and merely because there are certain alleged irregularities in the procedure required to be followed while acquiring the writ property, the court cannot exercise discretionary power in view of the fact that the bullet train project being an infrastructural and public project of national importance. ” It further noted “It is the paramount collective interest which would ultimately prevail. The private interest claimed by the petitioner does not prevail over the public interest which would subserve an Infrastructural Project of public importance which is a dream project of this country and a first of its kind”

The plea by Godrej and Boyce before the High Court had challenged an award of compensation passed on September 15, 2022. The company also challenged the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act.