The Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday allowed bollywood film director Subhash Ghai’s company, Mukta Arts, to remove the boundary wall constructed over 20 acre land in gram panchayat Badhsa in Jhajjar district of Haryana for his proposed Whistling Woods film institute.
The special division bench comprising justice Jasbir Singh and justice Rakesh Kumar Jain, however, ordered that Ghai’s company would remove the bricks from the plot in a period of one month. The bench also directed the village panchayat to co-operate with the director’s company.
The high court had on, September 11, 2012, set aside the sale of 20 acre of land to Mukta Arts. The company was ordered to restore the land back to the village panchayat with directions to the panchayat to return the amount of Rs 8 crore (cost of the land) it had received along with the interest to Ghai’s company.
The court had then found that the panchayat had illegally sold ‘shamlat’ land (village common land), which was fertile and not barren. Ghai’s proposed film institute was not an educational institute which would benefit the villagers, the court had said.
During the resumed hearing of the case on Friday, Mukta Arts’ counsel, R Kartikeya, informed the court that panchayat land has been restored back to it and the panchayat had refunded the amount to the company along with the interest. The counsel further stated that his client did not wish to claim any amount of compensation for his loss incurred due to removal of boundary wall from the plot.
{{/usCountry}}During the resumed hearing of the case on Friday, Mukta Arts’ counsel, R Kartikeya, informed the court that panchayat land has been restored back to it and the panchayat had refunded the amount to the company along with the interest. The counsel further stated that his client did not wish to claim any amount of compensation for his loss incurred due to removal of boundary wall from the plot.
{{/usCountry}}After issuing the directions, the court disposed of the case.