A big chunk of land acquired in Gurgaon has been challenged by the original owners of the said land in the Supreme Court of India. Read full report of the case as given in The Tribune, Chandigarh reproduced below with due acknowledgement to the paper:
LAND ACQUISITION OF 1,300 ACRESNew Delhi, August 24
Furnish sale deeds, SC tells Gurgaon Collector
R Sedhuraman
Legal Correspondent
The Supreme Court has asked the Gurgaon Collector to produce within two months all sale deeds in respect of over 1,300 acres of land sold by farmers to private builders and colonisers reportedly under the state government’s duress.
A Bench comprising Justices JS Khehar and Arun Mishra passed the order on an appeal filed by the Haryana government, challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s January 10, 2014, verdict quashing the acquisition of 87 acres in Gurgaon district.
Initially, the state had planned to acquire 1,400 acres in eight villages of the district – Badshapur, Behrampur, Nangli Umarpura, Tigra, Ullahwas, Kadarpur, Ghatta and Medawas in Sohna Tehsil – for developing residential sectors 58-63 and residential-cum-commercial sectors 65-67. Subsequently, the declaration was made for acquisition of only 800 acres under Section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act. Ultimately, the government acquired only 87 acres.
The HC quashed the acquisition after the affected farmers had contended that the government had announced the scheme for acquiring 1,400 acres only to create a psychological fear among the farmers that their land would be taken away for a song and thereby to force them to sell their land to private builders for a better price.
The state government dropped from the acquisition scheme all land sold to the builders and finally acquired only 87 acres owned by those who refused to sell their land to private parties.
Opposing the state government’s appeal in the SC, the farmers’ advocate, Jasbir Malik, contended that no purpose would be served by acquiring just 87 acres against the requirement of 800 acres for developing the new sectors. The government’s real intention in acquiring the land would be exposed if the court asked for the sale deeds of over 1,300 acres released in favour of private colonisers and builders, he pleaded.
Upon this, the SC asked the Collector on August 22 to produce the sale deeds and made it clear that he would not be allowed to pass on the blame to his juniors if he failed to submit any of the documents.
Source :http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140825/haryana.htm