Window opened for out-of-court Noida Extn solution
Delhi/NCR
All petitions against land acquisition in Noida and Greater Noida have been referred to the chief justice of the Allahabad High Court. Acquisition of more than 3,000 hectares of land spread across nearly a dozen villages had been challenged by farmers on the plea it was taken by the state government by invoking the urgency clause under Section 17(1) and 17(4) of the Land Acquisition Act which deprived them of an opportunity to raise objections as well as to bargain for a better compensation. The fate of about 50,000 people who have invested in housing projects in Noida Extension as well as over a dozen real estate developers also hinges on the final verdict.
The court, while referring the matter to the Chief Justice, said that those Patwari petitioners who wished to approach the authorities concerned with their grievances and reach an out-of-court settlement, could do so by August 12. The bench further observed that those who arrive at any agreement with the authorities during this period would have to inform the court on the next date of hearing , August 17, with full details about the relief agreed to, be it higher compensation or return of the acquired land.
Earlier in the day, another division bench had recused itself from hearing a petition filed by farmers of Deola village, who had challenged acquisition of 107 hectares of land belonging to them.
The bench of Justice R K Agrawal and Justice Sunil Hali had released the matter from its jurisdiction and referred it to the Chief Justice with the request that the petitions be placed before an appropriate bench. All the petitions are now likely to be heard together by a larger bench of the court on August 17. Tuesday’s hearing commenced with a number of farmers from Patwari village seeking relief in the light of the July 19 court order which quashed acquisition of 589 hectares of land in the same village. The petitioners had contended that since an order had already been passed in favour of other farmers from their village they too be granted similar relief as their land had been acquired by the state government in a similar fashion.
The farmers’ plea was opposed by builders involved in housing projects in Noida Extension area, who contended that orders quashing acquisitions were affecting them as well as those who had invested their earnings, without any fault on their part.
The builders’ submission was strongly opposed by the farmers, who submitted that in the course of hearing on the petitions relating to Patwari village, the state government had deliberately concealed the fact from the court that the acquired land had been given away to builders and therefore the builders must not be given any benefit of doubt.
The court said both the farmers as well as the builders could place their grievances before the larger bench to be constituted by the Chief Justice for hearing matters relating to land acquisitions in Noida and Greater Noida.
The state government had opposed the plea of the farmers and requested the court to refer the matter to a larger bench as two division benches had already upheld the validity of the notification in respect of Patwari village while the third had quashed the notification on July 19.
Appearing for the state of UP, a senior Supreme Court lawyer L Nageshwar Rao, assisted by M C Chaturvedi, chief standing counsel, had pointed out that the third division bench had no option except to refer the matter to a larger bench and made known their disagreement with the earlier two benches.
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