HC junks farmers’ petition against land acquisition off Yamuna eway

NOIDA: The Allahabad high court has dismissed a bunch of over 70 writ petitions filed by farmers of nine villages who had challenged a decision by the state government to acquire their plots using an emergency clause of the Land Acquisition Act between 2009 and 2011.
The May 26 order by Justices Sunita Agarwal and Vipin Chandra Dixit has paved the way for development work in litigated areas off the Yamuna Expressway.Around 5,500 allottees are expected to be handed plots now, mainly in the residential and institutional categories.
Arun Vir Singh, Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority CEO, said the litigation had held up development work in several sectors, such as 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 22. Handing over of plots and the construction of roads and other basic amenities were hit too. “There is another bunch of writ petitions from 11 villages, whose hearings are on. The next date of hearing is in July,” Singh added.
A total of 1,783 hectares were acquired by YEIDA in the nine villages – Usmanpur, Dhanori, Kadarpur, Rustampur, Doongarpur Reelka, Raunija, Rampur Bangar, Pachokra and Accheja Bujurg. Of the total land acquired, 332 hectares were under litigation.
The court agreed that the government had “applied its mind” while acquiring the land under the emergency clause.
“It cannot be accepted that the entire exercise for invocation of urgency clause was mechanical or there was no material for recording subjective satisfaction of the State. It cannot be said that it was an exercise which was conducted without application of mind. Having gone through the record and noticing the statement in the counter affidavit of the state, looking to the master plan and the area of land acquired under the notifications in question, there remains no doubt that the state government had duly applied its mind to relevant factors available on the record before it, to reach at the conclusion of the dispensation of enquiry under Section 5A,” the order read.
The government submitted in court various reasons for acquiring the plots under the emergency clause. They included an integrated plan for development, enormousness of the project, the need for contiguous land and the possibility of encroachment, among others.
The farmers had termed the acquisition process arbitrary and illegal and filed writ petitions in the high court, seeking quashing of the acquisition notifications under the urgency clause. They said the government had no ground to show an unforeseen urgency to invoke the urgency clause and deny the rights of the landholders to file objections.
The state government argued that the acquisition was made for an integrated development of the area notified by YEIDA and including the districts of Gautam Budh Nagar, Aligarh, Mathura and Mahamaya Nagar (Hathras) within the jurisdiction of the Authority.
The government added that the land parcels were indispensable for the planned development of an integrated township in the area and for providing basic infrastructural facilities to the villages.
The court passed the order after hearing both sides. It also directed the state government to declare within two months the compensation for the land acquired in the nine villages. The petitioners will also be made part of the schemes framed by YEIDA, such as regularisation of rural abadi sites, allotment of 7% abadi land and 64.7% additional compensation.
There is also a stay on the eviction of the petitioners from the acquired land.