SC orders CBI probe into Gurgaon land deals
The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered a CBI investigation into initiation of land acquisition process for 1,400 acres and passing of final award for 87 acres in Gurgaon.
Hearing a civil appeal, the bench of justice Arun Mishra and justice Mohan M Shantanagoudar ordered CBI to probe the matter and submit a report within six months.
The SC bench also made a reference to the ongoing CBI probe into the release of Manesar land.
The previous Congress government had issued a notification under Section 4 to acquire 1,400 acres of land for developing and its utilisation of residential sector 58-63 and commercial sectors 65-67 in Gurgaon by HUDA in June 2009.
CHANDIGARH: The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into initiation of land acquisition process for 1,400 acres and passing of final award for 87 acres in Gurgaon.
Hearing a civil appeal, the bench of justice Arun Mishra and justice Mohan M Shantanagoudar ordered CBI to probe the matter and submit a report within six months.
The SC bench also made a reference to the ongoing CBI probe into the release of Manesar land.
The previous Congress government had issued a notification under Section 4 to acquire 1,400 acres of land for developing and its utilisation of residential sector 58-63 and commercial sectors 65-67 in Gurgaon by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) in June 2009. The land sought to be acquired were in villages namely Badshapur, Behrampur, Nangli Umarpura, Tigra, Ullahwas, Kadarpur, Ghatta and Medawas of Gurgaon.
However, while issuing the declaration under section 6 on June 2, 2010, the total area was reduced to about 800 acres only.
Finally, the award dated May 29, 2012 was passed for less than 87 acres only.
Some of the land owners filed please challenging the acquisition proceedings in the Punjab and Haryana high court. Adjudicating a bunch of petitions, the high court observed that the ulterior object behind acquiring land for public utilities was to enable the private builders in exploiting commercially every inch of land and maximising their profits.
There can thus be no other inference but to hold that powers under the Act have been misused to benefit the private builders and other affluent individuals, who meanwhile purchased the land from original owners.
The high court had said that the power of eminent domain was invoked by the state to acquire more than 1400 acres for purpose of developing several residential and commercial Sectors in Gurgaon.
It was expressly recited in the notifications that the land is needed for the development and its utilisation under the Haryana Urban Development Act, 1977 by HUDA.
This is undeniable that the total land which has been finally acquired is insufficient to develop even one urban sector in Gurgaon what to talk of the entire notified public purpose.
It is also an uncontroverted fact that the acquired land (87 acres) is scattered in the revenue estate of different villages and fall in different urban sectors.
The respondents say the acquired land is not meant for any ‘commercial or residential sector’ rather it is proposed to be utilised for providing public utilities like hospital, power station, fire station and police station to discharge their obligation under the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975.