Manesar land deal: SC sets aside Hooda govt’s move to drop acquisition plan
NEWDELHI: Terming it a clear case of “fraud”, the Supreme Court on Monday set aside the erstwhile Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government’s August 2007 decision to quash its own 2004 notification to acquire 688 acres of land from Manesar, Lakhnoula and Naurangpur villages in Gurugram to establish an industrial township.
Bringing an end to the 10-yearold dispute between the landowners and the state government, the bench of justices AK Goel and UU Lalit held the entire exercise of power by the authorities was “malafide.”
The bench upheld the acquisition of the land and said it will vest with the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) orharyana Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC), which shall forthwith take possession. The land would be free from all encumbrances.
The SC verdict came on an appeal filed by landowners challenging the Punjab and Haryana high court judgment denying them relief.
They said the government had issued notification to acquire their land on August 27, 2004. This sent farmers into panic mode and they sold off their lands — in most cases at throwaway prices — to private builders. The government, however, on August 24, 2007, passed an order dropping the acquisition.
This was two days before the date set for pronouncement of award of compensation.
A CBI probe was ordered by the Manohar Lal Khattar government in 2015.
The agency has already filed a 163-page chargesheet against Hooda, senior officers and some private promoters.
Taking a grim view of the sequence of events, the top court asked the CBI to complete the investigation into the transaction to unearth the “unnatural gains” received by the middle men.
“Authorities of the state as well as the central government” were also asked to make efforts to reach the depths of such transactions and recover every single pie and make it over to the state government.
The court also took note of the fact that the Haryana government has appointed a commission of inquiry – Justice SN Dhingra panel - to look into certain facts concerning acquisitions in respect of land in Gurgaon Manesar Urban Complex and that the matter is presently before the HC.
The court requested the HC to dispose of the matter preferably within two months so that public interest may not suffer.
The bench directed that the licences granted to private parties in respect of the lands in question too will stand transferred to HUDA/HSIDC.