Allowing a writ petition by a farmer, Devi Singh, and four others, a division bench of justices Rakesh Tiwari and Mukhtar Ahmed set aside the notification dated April 12, 2005 and July 22, 2006 issued for acquisition of the land.
The Noida Authority has said it will file a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court against high court's order. While the Authority officials maintained that no project was affected by the order, two group housing projects, almost ready for possession, have been built on the land whose acquisition is quashed. The group housing projects have almost 1,000 flats.
Passing the judgment, the high court observed, "We are of the opinion that since the award in respect of the said plot was not declared, the acquisition proceedings are void, particularly in view of law laid down by the Supreme Court in this regard in catena of judgments. There is no delay on the part of the petitioners to approach the court since the award itself was not passed on July 27, 2011 and no compensation has been given to them. Thus, when award has not been declared within the time where urgency clause has been invoked, the acquisition proceedings lapsed."
The counsel for the petitioners contended that plots of the petitioners were acquired for planned industrial development by invoking mandatory provision of Section 17 (1) and (4) of the Land Acquisition Act by dispensing with an enquiry under Section 5-A of the Act, but no opportunity of hearing was given to the petitioners who were owner and persons interested in the land sought to be acquired.
Though the land in dispute had been acquired for industrial development, till date no industry has been set up by and the petitioners were in actual physical possession of the aforesaid land, the plea contended.
SOURCE: The Times Of India
No comments:
Post a Comment