Farmers of Ullawas village on Wednesday decided to move the Punjab and Haryana high court to reclaim land leased for 33 years to the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust in 2009.
The land was leased for setting up a charitable eye hospital on 5 acres of panchayat land.
They have also decided to move court to reclaim an acre of land leased to another social organisation, the Church Gate Medical Society, for setting up a dental facility.
Both sites flank Gurgaon's bustling Sector 62 where private developers are building mega residential and commercial projects.
"We've formed a 10-member panel to pursue the case in court to seek cancellation of the lease deeds," said former sarpanch Dharambir Singh, who chaired the farmers' meet on Wednesday.
"We will also file a petition against government officials who were instrumental in pressuring the then panchayat head and members to pass the resolution and sign lease deeds in favour of these societies," Singh said.
Singh alleged the then deputy commissioner Rajender Kataria had, on the direction of the Haryana government, threatened to dissolve the then panchayat and dismiss sarpanch Suresh Parkash, thus forcing them to pass the resolution and sign the lease deeds.
{{/usCountry}}Singh alleged the then deputy commissioner Rajender Kataria had, on the direction of the Haryana government, threatened to dissolve the then panchayat and dismiss sarpanch Suresh Parkash, thus forcing them to pass the resolution and sign the lease deeds.
{{/usCountry}}However, Parkash refuted the allegations of pressure on the panchayat by the deputy commissioner.
"A bunch of politically ambitious farmers are trying to flare up the issue to gain political mileage. The fact is that the panchayat had approached the district administration and offered its land for welfare projects in the larger interest of villagers. We also wanted to get some money for development of the village," he said.