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PMC gets breather from SC in Gool Poonawala garden case
PUNE The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) can now breathe a sigh of relief as the Supreme Cort has rejected the compensation amount for the land acquisition in the Gool Poonawala garden, Salisbury Park case
PUNE The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) can now breathe a sigh of relief as the Supreme Cort has rejected the compensation amount for the land acquisition in the Gool Poonawala garden, Salisbury Park case. The court has asked the land owner to calculate the amount again.
Residents have been fighting a lone 20-year battle, and amid protests and movements, the civic body developed the 3.5 acre land into a public garden.
PMC legal advisor Nisha Chavan said, “Earlier, the land acquisition cost was decided at ₹18.83 crore, however, the land owner knocked the doors of Supreme and High Court to give a compensation of ₹71.57 crore. The civic body challenged this compensation amount in the Supreme Court, which observed that this amount is excess and has instructed for a hearing in front of land acquisition officer in the next six months.”
According to PMC officer, the SC pointed out that it was the lower court which asked to pay excess for the land acquisition.
It all started in 2004 when the PMC issued a notification to de-reserve a plot of land originally earmarked for a garden and handed it over to a local builder. About 300 residents organised a rally in protest under the banner ‘Salisbury Park Residence Forum’ and filed a case in court which went on for several years.
In 2015, the Bombay high court directed the PMC to pay ₹18 crore to the district administration and take possession of the land. As the original owner did not object to the PMC acquiring the land, the civic body completed the legal formalities, took possession of the land, and began developing a garden on the plot that was earlier used to dump garbage in 2016. Even as work on the garden began, the PMC challenged the increased compensation amount which by subsequent HC ruling was referred to a larger bench in 2018 and further increased to ₹76 crore.
Rajendra Thorat, deputy engineer of the land acquisition department of the PMC, said, “The PMC had challenged the increased compensation amount of ₹71 crore calculated and decided by the Pune district administration. While the case was on in the Supreme Court, PMC developed the open plot into a garden and inaugurated it in November last year.
The garden has been developed on the lines of a topiary, with the trees and shrubs styled into shapes of animals and cartoons. There is a separate area for exercise with gym bars, a skating rink, flower beds, an amphitheatre and more
