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HC cancels land acquisition in three Noida villages
Farmers of 60 others to get enhanced compensation
Shahira Naim
Tribune News Service

Lucknow, October 21
In a significant judgment, the Allahabad High Court today ordered that the land of three villages in Noida and Greater Noida be returned to farmers while farmers of another 60 villages would now receive enhanced compensation for their land.

The villages whose land has been restored to the farmers are Yusufpur Chak Sahberi and Devla in Greater Noida and Asadullahpur in Noida.

The judgment said that the petitioners from these three villages “shall be entitled for restoration of their land subject to deposit of the compensation which they have received under the agreement/award before the authorities/collector”.

The full Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, SU Khan and VK Shukla delivered the judgment on writ No. 37443 of 2011 of Gajraj and others vs the State of UP and others. After hearing the 471 petitions, the court had reserved the judgment on September 30.

Severely indicting the Greater Noida authorities for a wide range of irregularities, the court has ordered the state government to take action after instituting an inquiry.

For the inquiry, it has directed Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary to appoint an officer not below the level of Principal Secretary to conduct a thorough inquiry regarding the Greater Noida authorities who proceeded to implement the Master Plan 2021 without the approval of the National Capital Regional Planning Board (NCRP Board).

It has asked the probing officer to look into the authorities’ decisions to change the land use and allot land to the builders as well as the indiscriminate proposals for the acquisition of land.

As far as the remaining petitioners of around 60 villages of Noida and Greater Noida are concerned, they have not been returned their land. They will only be getting compensation at enhanced rates and 10 per cent of developed or “abadi” land.

Referring to their petitioners, the 400-page judgment says, “The petitioners shall be entitled for payment of additional compensation to the extent of same ratio (i.e. 64.70%) as paid to village patwari in addition to the compensation received by them under 1997 rules/award which payment shall be ensured by the authority at an early date”.

Giving them the benefit of getting developed land, the judgment says, “All the petitioners shall be entitled for allotment of developed “abadi” plot to the extent of 10 per cent of their acquired land subject to a maximum of 2,500 sq m.”

The judgment has directed Greater Noida authorities and its allottees not to carry on development and not to implement the Master Plan 2021 till the observations and directions of the National Capital Regional Planning Board are incorporated in Master Plan 2021 to the satisfaction of the board.

However, attempting to strike a balance between the interests of farmers, land authorities, builders and investors - the judgment has left all parties feeling short-changed.

Speaking to news channels, several farmers of these 60 villages expressed their resolve to go to the Supreme Court challenging today’s judgment and demanding that their land also be restored to them.

The judgment is bound to adversely hit reputed builders who had already acquired the land for ambitious housing projects. It remains to be seen what proportion of the damage would be passed on to the end-user - the flat owner who has booked flats at exorbitant prices, often paying EMIs on the loans taken from banks.