SC hands probe in Noida land compensation to UP vigilance

The Supreme Court on Monday handed over the probe into the alleged illegal payment of enhanced compensation to landowners in Noida to Uttar Pradesh’s Vigilance Department after a court-appointed special investigation team (SIT) found prima facie evidence against three officials and recommended further investigation

The Supreme Court on Monday handed over the probe into the alleged illegal payment of enhanced compensation to landowners in Noida to Uttar Pradesh’s Vigilance Department after a court-appointed special investigation team (SIT) found prima facie evidence against three officials and recommended further investigation.

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A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai, along with justices Joymalya Bagchi and K Vinod Chandran, entrusted the vigilance wing to take over investigation into six FIRs registered on the SIT’s recommendation – three relating to the alleged conspiracy involving officials and three concerning disproportionate assets allegedly amassed by them.

The bench said, “The SIT is absolved of further responsibility of investigating the matter and the matter is entrusted to the vigilance bureau of the state. The department shall take over the investigation forthwith.”

To ensure timely compliance of its directions, the bench held that in the event there is “inordinate delay” in concluding the probe, any public-spirited person can approach the high court or the top court complaining against the delay.

The order came after the SIT, constituted by the top court in August 2025, submitted its final report in a sealed cover.

The report, running to around 700 pages, examined the role of 12 Noida Authority officials in allegedly facilitating illegal compensation payouts to landowners. Appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, advocate Ruchira Goel told the court: “Of these, three have been found to be involved.”

These officials, according to the report, had “skimmed” money from farmers and landowners on the pretext of getting their compensation amounts released or increased. Other contents of the report could not be known as it is in a sealed cover.

Since the SIT itself was the complainant in the FIRs, the state requested that the investigation be transferred to the vigilance department.

Accepting the request, the bench observed that the cases required investigators experienced in financial crimes. “We find substance in the plea of the state as the subject FIRs need to be investigated by a team of experts having experience in investigating economic offences,” the court said.

In January, the top court had extended time for SIT to complete its probe within two months. The SIT sought time to examine the property held by the 12 officials and their family members and to identify their known sources of income and bank accounts of beneficiaries who received the payouts in excess of the compensation fixed by courts.

The last status report filed by SIT in the top court revealed that 212 beneficiaries had received excess compensation and the statements of surviving beneficiaries were recorded. In the August 2025 order, it had directed the director general of police (DGP) of UP to form a three-member SIT and register a case if the preliminary probe prima facie discloses a cognizable offence. The SIT was permitted to involve experts in forensic audit of accounts, and those probing financial frauds and disproportionate assets.

The case before the court involved legal officer Dinesh Kumar Singh and assistant legal officer Virender Singh Nagar employed with Noida who allegedly sanctioned a compensation of ₹7.28 crore in a land acquisition case, 22 years after it was paid to the landowner. A fact-finding report found out that the acquisition was carried out in 1982 and the owner was paid compensation for his 10-15 bigha land (a bigha is about 25.29 acres in UP) at the rate of ₹10.12 per square yard.

Not satisfied with this amount, the owner approached the district court in Ghaziabad for enhanced compensation. In 1993, the court directed Noida authority to pay the owner at the rate of ₹16.61 per square yard. This was done and the claim stood settled. Then in 2015, Ramwati, the legal heir of the owner, filed an appeal before the Allahabad high court to reopen the compensation but the same was dismissed.

The prosecution alleged that the two officials later projected the dismissed claim as pending and secured release of ₹7.28 crore after the Noida Authority adopted a policy that year to settle certain pending compensation claims at ₹297 per square yard.

Besides probing the irregularities, the court had also directed restructuring the Noida authority into a metropolitan corporation by infusing transparency and a citizen-centric approach in its functioning. It even ordered the appointing of a chief vigilance officer for the authority and a Citizen Advisory Board (CAB) for resolving grievances of Noida residents within a month.

All construction projects in Noida were further directed to be cleared only after obtaining Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) clearance and approval by the green bench of the top court. In this regard, the court clarified on Monday that the requirement of environmental clearance will remain exempted for projects with a built-up area of less than 20,000 square metre as provided in the EIA notification of September 2006.