Jurisdiction to assess an expropriation-related objection to the imposition of a servitude for the maintenance of a power line

Facts

The Nordostschweizerische Kraftwerke AG (NOK) had constructed a 380 kV power line from Bonaduz to Breite in 1960/1961, which runs across the property No. 2844 of [X.] in Mels SG. The NOK requested the Federal Assessment Commission to conduct an abridged expropriation procedure on May 6, 2003, in order to establish a servitude for the maintenance of the power line on the aforementioned parcel. [X.] filed an objection against the expropriation. The Federal Supreme Court overturned the decision of the Assessment Commission and referred the case to the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) for a decision on the objection. However, DETEC found that it was not competent and referred the case to the Federal Inspectorate for Heavy Current Installations.

The NOK filed a complaint with the Administrative Court against the decision of DETEC and requested that the expropriation case be assigned to DETEC for a first-instance decision. The NOK argued that its high-voltage power line was neither to be modified nor supplemented and that it was an exclusively expropriation-related matter to be assessed.

Considerations

The Federal Supreme Court examined the jurisdiction to decide on the expropriation-related objection to the imposition of a servitude for the maintenance of a power line. The Court found that the procedure for approving heavy current installations and for the compulsory acquisition of the required rights had been unified by the Federal Act on the Coordination and Simplification of Decision-Making Procedures.

The Court discussed that the expropriation procedure was combined with the planning approval procedure in the sense that expropriation-related and special legal objections had to be filed simultaneously and the planning approval authority would decide on all objections raised. The Court also found, however, that if further rights were to be acquired for an existing installation without modifying it and without a planning approval procedure being required, the procedure would be determined exclusively by the Expropriation Act in the…