Resolve NPR oustees’ issue on priority,high court tells Huda

Punjab and Haryana high court asks for detailed report of oustees affected by NPR construction along its 18km stretch between New Palam Vihar and Kherki Daula in Gurgaon.

The Punjab and Haryana high court asked the Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) to resolve the issue of resettlement of plot owners affected by the construction of the Northern Peripheral Road, also known as Dwarka Expressway, while hearing the case on Monday. The court will hear the matter next on Friday.

The NHAI took over NPR (Dwarka Expressway) in October 2016 from the Huda, but litigation over the land in New Palam Vihar has held up the construction. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

The court asked Huda to submit a detailed report of oustees affected by the NPR construction along its 18km stretch between New Palam Vihar and Kherki Daula in Gurgaon.

Yashpal Yadav, Huda administrator, Gurgaon, said, “We are now hopeful of a clear direction in the next hearing on Friday. Our objective is to transfer litigation-free land to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to complete construction of the NPR at the earliest.”

Sandeep Sharma, lawyer for the NPR oustees, said, “The court did not give any direction in this regard but it adjourned the hearing to Friday. The oustees’ issue is complicated as plot owners with general or special power of attorney (SPA-GPA) are a major hurdle and the Huda is neither in a position to avoid them now resolve the issue.”

“Original land owners who sold plots on SPA-GPA have also moved the court stating that the Huda cannot compensate GPA-SPA holders with alternative plots as they are not the actual owners of land. This has further complicated the NPR oustees’ issue and I believe the government is not inclined to resolve the issue,” Rajkumar, an oustee, said.

The NHAI took over NPR (Dwarka Expressway) in October 2016 from the Huda, but litigation over the land in New Palam Vihar has held up the construction. The NHAI is waiting for the land transfer as its tender to start construction of a 10km elevated road between Delhi border and Basai railway overbridge is getting delayed owing to the delay in land transfer.

“We hope that the Huda will transfer land to the NHAI at the earliest so that construction of the elevated road, the Connecting Peripheral Road and a cloverleaf can all start at one go,” a senior NHAI official said on condition of anonymity as the matter is sub judice.