Ministry of Railways Issues Corrigendum to Land Acquisition Notification for Godda Pirpainti Railway Project

The Ministry of Railways, acting through the Eastern Railway’s Construction Department, issued a formal corrigendum to rectify significant clerical and factual discrepancies in a previously published land acquisition notification. This statutory instrument, identified as S.O. 5393(E) and dated November 24, 2025, modified the earlier notification No. 3815 which was originally released on August 26, 2025. The primary focus of this legislative action was the acquisition of land for a special railway project involving the construction of the Godda Pirpainti New Broad Gauge line within the Godda district of Jharkhand. The corrigendum was issued under the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 20A of the Railways (Amendment) Act, 2008, and it officially came into force upon its publication in the Extraordinary Gazette of India on November 25, 2025.

The necessity for this modification arose from the identification of errors in the description of land parcels essential for the project's execution. The legislation provided: “In modification of notification No. 3815 dated 26.08.2025 of land acquisition for special Railway Project, namely, Godda Pirpainti New BG line in the District of Godda in the State of Jharkhand under sub-section (1) of section 20A of the Railways (Amendment) Act, 2008 published in Gazette of India, Extraordinary, part II section 3 Sub-section (ii) vide No.3815 dated 26.08.2025, the following to be corrected” as it sought to align the statutory record with the actual revenue status of the affected properties. The corrections introduced by the Ministry spanned three primary categories: the nature of the land, the legal type of the land, and the specific Khata numbers, which refer to the legal account numbers assigned to landholdings.

The legislative intent behind this corrigendum was to ensure absolute statutory precision and to uphold the policy rationale of fair and accurate land acquisition. By correcting the nature of the land, the Ministry addressed issues where agricultural classifications such as Dhani (paddy-growing land) or Bari (homestead or garden land) were incorrectly recorded. For instance, several plots in the Doi and Meherma Mouzas (village-level administrative units) saw their classifications adjusted to reflect their true agricultural or residential status. Furthermore, the corrigendum addressed critical errors regarding the type of land ownership. In multiple cases, land that had been erroneously published as government-owned was re-categorized as private land, a change that directly impacts the rights of individual landowners and their eligibility for compensation.

These amendments were essential to resolve statutory gaps that could have led to protracted legal disputes or challenges to the acquisition process. The earlier legal position, as stated in the August notification, contained several instances where records were either missing or incorrectly attributed to specific plots. By substituting these entries with verified data, the Ministry has strengthened the enforcement mechanism for the Godda Pirpainti project. The corrections affected a wide range of Mouzas, including Haripur, Lilatari, Shankarpur, and Ghat Dariyachak, ensuring that the statutory framework governing the project is both transparent and factually sound. This administrative action underscores the government's commitment to maintaining rigorous standards in the exercise of eminent domain for public infrastructure development.

Keywords: Ministry of Railways, Land Acquisition, Godda Pirpainti Railway, Jharkhand, Railways Amendment Act 2008, Corrigendum, Eastern Railway, Statutory Notification

Geo Tags: India, Jharkhand District: Godda