SC overturns up govt’s land acquisition

The Supreme Court quashed the acquisition by the Uttar Pradesh government of 205 hectares of agricultural land in Gautam Budh Nagar on behalf of the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority for private entrepreneurs.

The Supreme Court quashed the acquisition by the Uttar Pradesh government of 205 hectares of agricultural land in Gautam Budh Nagar on behalf of the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority for private entrepreneurs.

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A bench headed by justice GS Singhvi passed the order.

The petitioners had challenged a December 2008 order of the Allahabad high court dismissing their plea against the March 2008 acquisition of their land. They had contended that the government invoked urgency provision under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, to dispense with the process of inviting objections from the victims.

“There was no real and substantive urgency which could justify invoking of the urgency provision ... there was no warrant to exclude the application of Section 5-A,” it said.

The bench said courts should view with "suspicion" the action of the government in acquiring land for private parties in the name of urgency.

It also directed the state government to pay a cost of R5 lakh to the petitioners for forcing an unwarranted litigation on them.