Court orders status quo on disputed Udyog Vihar land in Gurugram

Two years after the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) sold a 12-acre prime Udyog Vihar land in an open online auction to a real estate company, a local court on March 1 granted status quo on its registry after hearing the petition of an industry owner.

Two years after the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) sold a 12-acre prime Udyog Vihar land in an open online auction to a real estate company, a local court on March 1 granted status quo on its registry after hearing the petition of an industry owner.

On February 15, the petitioner had appealed for status quo on the registry of the land, arguing that it includes a 4-acre portion consisting of a natural drain. (Picture for representation)

On February 15, the petitioner had appealed for status quo on the registry of the land, arguing that it includes a 4-acre portion consisting of a natural drain. The HSIIDC had filled the natural drain over the course of time and had included this as a plain area in the online auction.

“The natural drain starts somewhere in the Aravallis near Nathupur village. It was roughly 30-metre-wide and its 4-acre portion was coming in the alignment of the 12-acre land that the HSIIDC had decided to auction as in commercial bid in February 2017. We objected to it, after we got to know about the action through media reports. We also moved the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which asked the HSIIDC and the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), the custodian authority of city’s natural drains, to restore the portion of the drain in question,” petitioner Rajneesh Chaddha said.

While hearing petitions of Chaddha, the NGT had made a note of poor conditions of city’s natural drains, citing the perennial flooding of Hero Honda Chowk and areas in Udyog Vihar every monsoon.

“Both the parties are directed to maintain status quo to the suit property and the defendant (HSIIDC) is directed to file written statement so that injunction application can be decided as early as possible. Now to come up on April 6 for filing written statement and reply to injunction application on behalf the defendant,” read the court order.

HSIIDC managing director Dr Narhari Bangar said, “We have not yet received the court order in this regard and it is not appropriate to comment on the matter at this point.”

The industry owners of Udyog Vihar said they were unhappy with the auction of the 12-acre prime land.

Aseem Takyar, an industry owner, said, “HSIIDC had planned a multi-level parking for Udyog Vihar on the land it sold in auction for commercial gains two years ago. We are unhappy with the corporation for ignoring the parking problems in this area. We hope the court will do needful to restore the drain in Udyog Vihar.”