The Supreme Court today upheld the Allahabad High Court order quashing the acquisition of over 156 hectares of land from farmers in Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh and allotting it to builders.
The court also imposed Rs 10 lakh as cost on the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) and directed it to hand over the land to the villagers and farmers.
"GNIDA allotted the land to builders in complete violation for which the land was acquired," a bench comprising justices G.S. Singhvi and A.K. Ganguly said.
The bench said even before the government approved the use of land from industrial to residential purposes, the authority allotted the land to some builders.
The bench said it need not interfere into the judgement of the division bench of the high court which held that the urgency provision applied by the authority for the acquisition of land was 'entirely a colourable exercise of power'.
The court said it will give detailed reasoning for arriving at this judgement later.
The court passed its order on a petition filed by GNIDA and real estate developers and builders, including Supertech and Amrapali, challenging the high court order which had quashed the notifications for land acquisition in Greater Noida adjoining the national capital.
The high court had on May 31 quashed acquisition of land at Gulistan village in Greater Noida for industrial development.
The court had quashed the notification for land acquisition in Greater Noida saying that the acquisition, made after invoking Section 17 of Land Acquisition Act and depriving the aggrieved persons of the chance to file their objections on the ground of urgency, was a 'colourable exercise of power'.
The counsel, appearing for Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority, had contended that the acquisition was part of its 'well-known' 2021 plan called the Industrial Development Plan, which is a generic term that includes commercial and residential use.
The high court order had come on the plea of landowners and farmers who had challenged the government notification for land acquisition issued on September 5, 2007.