Gr Noida land acqusition: HC raises compensation for farmers

The Allahabad High Court today cancelled land acquisition of three villages Asadullapur, Shaberi Village and Devla in the region, of the 63 villages that had appealed against forced acquisition. The court raised the compensation by 64 percent in addition to getting 10 percent of the developed land, for the remaining 60 villages. Farmers who have already been paid compensation can return the compensation and claim their land.

91 petitions had been filed in the court against land acquisitions in Noida and Greater Noida on housing projects on nearly 5000 hectares of land.

Farmers from 63 villages had filed petitions, alleging that the UP government acquired their land by invoking the ‘urgency clause’, which deprived them to demand compensation from the authority. A full bench of the court had on September 30 reserved its judgement in these cases after hearing the versions of the state government, farmers, builders and buyers for more than two weeks.

Pankaj Dubey, the Counsel for farmers, had argued that the state’s reason for invoking emergency is not genuine, ‘it is just a tailor made justification’.

In July this year, the Supreme Court struck down the acquisition of 156 hectares in Noida extension as illegal. The Supreme Court agreed with the Allahabad High Court which said 156 hectares in the Shaberi Village in Greater Noida had been taken from farmers for industrial projects, but was actually being sold to commercial developers for high-profitable apartment complexes.

The verdict comes as a setback to the UP government as the court has ordered in inquiry by the chief secretary and name those responsible for forcibly acquiring land by builders and how the UP government bent rule and meddled with the master plan to favor the builders. The court has also banned any further construction in the region until masterplan 2021 comes into force.

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