Apex court sets aside land takeover in Ghaziabad

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Tuesday set aside a Uttar Pradesh government notification taking over farm land in Chitoli, Sabli and Imtori villages in Ghaziabad district to set the "Leather City" township.

A bench of Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice H.L. Dattu while allowing the petition by Devender Kumar Tyagi and others said: "We hold that the declaration of notification dated Dec 18, 2007, is beyond the period of limitation as envisaged by the provision of the Land Acquisition Act".

Speaking for the bench, Justice Dattu said: "We also hold that the state government was not justified, in the facts and circumstances of the case, to invoke the urgency provisions of the act."

The apex court verdict came on the petitions challenging the acquisition of their lands for a planned development of the Leather City Project in order to relocate bone mills and allied industries by invoking the urgency provisions of Land Acquisition Act.

These leather related industries are being relocated in the wake of a PIL being heard by the apex court seeking the relocation of the bone mills and allied industries in the various parts of Uttar Pradesh including the Ghaziabad. The apex court is monitoring the re-location of industries.

The state government had contended that urgency provision under the Land Acquisition Act were invoked to eliminative the delay that would have been caused by following the inquiry (public hearing) procedure for acquiring lands under the act.

The court did not accept the contention that one year limitation period for the issuance of the notification for actual acquiring of the lands commended from January 5, 2007 when English translation of the Hindi notification was carried in English newspapers. The final declaration for acquiring lands within 15 days was issued on Dec 18, 2007.

"In our considered view, the publication of the notification in two newspapers having circulation in the locality where the land is situated and where people are well conversant with Hindi amounts to ample compliance with the requirement of the publication under Section 4(1) of the LA Act", the judgment said. The notification for acquiring lands had appeared in Hindi newspapers on July 4, 2006.

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