Land acquisition: HC defers hearing

The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday deferred till July 26 its hearing on a petition challenging the acquisition of more than 460 hectares of land in a village in Gautam Buddh Nagar district.

The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday deferred till July 26 its hearing on a petition challenging the acquisition of more than 460 hectares of land in a village in Gautam Buddh Nagar district.

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A division bench comprising justices Amitava Lala and Ashok Kumar Srivastava deferred the hearing on petitions filed by farmers of Roza-Yaqoobpur village in Gautambuddh Nagar district, who had challenged the acquisition of 468 hectares of land by the state government in 2007-2008.

According to the petitioners' counsel Pankaj Dubey, the court "is likely to club all related matters, including the acquisition of 608 hectares of land in Bisrakh-Jalalpur village which was listed for tomorrow and hear them together on July 26".

Noida-based lawyer Parveen Singh Bhatti, who had also appeared on the petitioners' behalf, said "the farmers have challenged the state government's acquisition proceedings, wherein land was acquired invoking Section 4 (17) of the Land Acquisition Act.

The aforesaid clause is said to be an emergency clause which is invoked only when there is an urgency for acquiring land.