PDA to move SC against high court order to hike land rates
The Patiala Development Authority (PDA) will move the Supreme Court next month against the recent order of the Punjab and Haryana high court raising the land rates for buyers of pots and flats at the integrated PDA-Omaxe City township on the Patiala-Sirhind road.
The Patiala Development Authority (PDA) will move the Supreme Court next month against the recent order of the Punjab and Haryana high court raising the land rates for buyers of pots and flats at the integrated PDA-Omaxe City township on the Patiala-Sirhind road.
Assistant chief administrator Gurmeet Singh said that the petition to be filed in SC is already under consideration of the state government’s legal department and likely to be cleared by month end.
“We will be able to move the SC in the first week of July to seek relief on the ground that the enhancement in rates was so huge that it would burden a large number of buyers and should be brought down,” he said.
Passing its judgment last month, the high court had enhanced the rate of land by Rs 1,418 per square yard in compensation to Baran village farmers, whose 331 acres of land was acquired in 2,003 for the development of this project.
The order came as a huge blow to nearly 2,000 buyers of plots under the project.
As projected by officials, if the PDA fails to get any relief in this matter, the overall enhanced liability may cross Rs 5,000 per square yard after calculation of statutory expenses, including accrued interest and developmental charges. It will be almost the same as their original allotment price for residential plots.
Gurmeet Singh said that the farmers were adequately paid during the land acquisition. “We will try to convince the apex court for leniency for larger public interest,” he said
Meanwhile, Omaxe City Residents’ Welfare Association continued to demand that PDA and Omaxe should pay the enhancement liability since they are the one who minted the windfall profits out of this project at the cost of farmers and residents as they did not provide the promised facilities.
The PDA, it is learnt, had bought the land from farmers and paid them a total of Rs 27 crore. It further sold the land to Omaxe at Rs 109 crore apart from 15% share on the overall revenue of the project.